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

>and it is very strong, such that none may abide it."

The section head then hurried to his department manager,

and informed him thus:

"It is a vessel of fertilizer,

and none may abide its strength."

The department manager carried these words

to his general manager,

and spoke unto him

saying:

"It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants,

and it is very strong."

And so it was that the general manager rejoiced

and delivered the good news unto the Vice President.

"It promoteth growth,

and it is very powerful."

The Vice President rushed to the President's side,

and joyously exclaimed:

"This powerful new software product

will promote the growth of the company!"

And the President looked upon the product,

and saw that it was very good.

After the subsequent and inevitable disaster, the [12327]suits protect

themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are

demoted or fired. Compare [12328]Conway's Law.

Node:snail, Next:[12329]snail-mail, Previous:[12330]SNAFU principle,

Up:[12331]= S =

snail vt.

To [12332]snail-mail something. "Snail me a copy of those graphics,

will you?"

Node:snail-mail, Next:[12333]snap, Previous:[12334]snail, Up:[12335]=

S =

snail-mail n.

Paper mail, as opposed to electronic. Sometimes written as the single

word SnailMail'. One's postal address is, correspondingly, asnail

address'. Derives from earlier coinage USnail' (fromU.S. Mail'),

for which there have even been parody posters and stamps made. Also

(less commonly) called P-mail', frompaper mail' or `physical mail'.

Oppose [12336]email.

Node:snap, Next:[12337]snarf, Previous:[12338]snail-mail, Up:[12339]=

S =

snap v.

To replace a pointer to a pointer with a direct pointer; to replace an

old address with the forwarding address found there. If you telephone

the main number for an institution and ask for a particular person by

name, the operator may tell you that person's extension before

connecting you, in the hopes that you will `snap your pointer' and

dial direct next time. The underlying metaphor may be that of a rubber

band stretched through a number of intermediate points; if you remove

all the thumbtacks in the middle, it snaps into a straight line from

first to last. See [12340]chase pointers.

Often, the behavior of a [12341]trampoline is to perform an error

check once and then snap the pointer that invoked it so as henceforth

to bypass the trampoline (and its one-shot error check). In this

context one also speaks of `snapping links'. For example, in a LISP

implementation, a function interface trampoline might check to make

sure that the caller is passing the correct number of arguments; if it

is, and if the caller and the callee are both compiled, then snapping

the link allows that particular path to use a direct procedure-call

instruction with no further overhead.

Node:snarf, Next:[12342]snarf & barf, Previous:[12343]snap,

Up:[12344]= S =

snarf /snarf/ vt.

To grab, esp. to grab a large document or file for the purpose of

using it with or without the author's permission. See also [12345]BLT.

[in the Unix community] To fetch a file or set of files across a

network. See also [12346]blast. This term was mainstream in the late

1960s, meaning `to eat piggishly'. It may still have this connotation

in context. "He's in the snarfing phase of hacking -- [12347]FTPing

megs of stuff a day." 3. To acquire, with little concern for legal

forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). "They were giving away

samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them." 4. Syn. for [12348]slurp.

"This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core,

then...." 5. [GEnie] To spray food or [12349]programming fluids due to

laughing at the wrong moment. "I was drinking coffee, and when I read

your post I snarfed all over my desk." "If I keep reading this topic,

I think I'll have to snarf-proof my computer with a keyboard

[12350]condom." [This sense appears to be widespread among mundane

teenagers --ESR]

Node:snarf & barf, Next:[12351]snarf down, Previous:[12352]snarf,

Up:[12353]= S =

snarf & barf /snarf'n-barf`/ n.

Under a [12354]WIMP environment, the act of grabbing a region of text

and then stuffing the contents of that region into another region (or

the same one) to avoid retyping a command line. In the late 1960s,

this was a mainstream expression for an `eat now, regret it later'

cheap-restaurant expedition.

Node:snarf down, Next:[12355]snark, Previous:[12356]snarf & barf,

Up:[12357]= S =

snarf down v.

To [12358]snarf, with the connotation of absorbing, processing, or

understanding. "I'll snarf down the latest version of the

[12359]nethack user's guide -- it's been a while since I played last

and I don't know what's changed recently."

Node:snark, Next:[12360]sneaker, Previous:[12361]snarf down,

Up:[12362]= S =

snark n.

[Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] 1. A system failure.

When a user's process bombed, the operator would get the message

"Help, Help, Snark in MTS!" 2. More generally, any kind of unexplained

or threatening event on a computer (especially if it might be a

boojum). Often used to refer to an event or a log file entry that

might indicate an attempted security violation. See [12363]snivitz. 3.

UUCP name of snark.thyrsus.com, home site of the Jargon File versions

from 2.. on (i.e., this lexicon).

Node:sneaker, Next:[12364]sneakernet, Previous:[12365]snark,

Up:[12366]= S =

sneaker n.

An individual hired to break into places in order to test their

security; analogous to [12367]tiger team. Compare [12368]samurai.

Node:sneakernet, Next:[12369]sniff, Previous:[12370]sneaker,

Up:[12371]= S =

sneakernet /snee'ker-net/ n.

Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of electronic

information by physically carrying tape, disks, or some other media

from one machine to another. "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a

station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also

called Tennis-Net',Armpit-Net', Floppy-Net' orShoenet'; in the

1990s, `Nike network' after a well-known sneaker brand.

Node:sniff, Next:[12372]snivitz, Previous:[12373]sneakernet,

Up:[12374]= S =

sniff v.,n.

To watch IP packets traversing a local network. Most often in the

phrase `packet sniffer', a program for doing same. 2.Synonym for

[12375]poll.

Node:snivitz, Next:[12376]'Snooze, Previous:[12377]sniff, Up:[12378]=

S =

snivitz /sniv'itz/ n.

A hiccup in hardware or software; a small, transient problem of

unknown origin (less serious than a [12379]snark). Compare

[12380]glitch.

Node:'Snooze, Next:[12381]SO, Previous:[12382]snivitz, Up:[12383]= S =

'Snooze /snooz/ [FidoNet] n.

Fidonews, the weekly official on-line newsletter of FidoNet. As the

editorial policy of Fidonews is "anything that arrives, we print",

there are often large articles completely unrelated to FidoNet, which

in turn tend to elicit [12384]flamage in subsequent issues.

Node:SO, Next:[12385]social engineering, Previous:[12386]'Snooze,

Up:[12387]= S =

SO /S-O/ n.

(also `S.O.') Abbrev. for Significant Other, almost invariably

written abbreviated and pronounced /S-O/ by hackers. Used to refer to

one's primary relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married.

See [12388]MOTAS, [12389]MOTOS, [12390]MOTSS. 2. [techspeak] The Shift

Out control character in ASCII (Control-N, 0001110).

Node:social engineering, Next:[12391]social science number,

Previous:[12392]SO, Up:[12393]= S =

social engineering n.

Term used among [12394]crackers and [12395]samurai for cracking

techniques that rely on weaknesses in [12396]wetware rather than

software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other

information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams

include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing

as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an urgent access

problem. See also the [12397]tiger team story in the [12398]patch

entry.

Node:social science number, Next:[12399]sock puppet,

Previous:[12400]social engineering, Up:[12401]= S =

social science number n. //

[IBM] A statistic that is [12402]content-free, or nearly so. A measure

derived via methods of questionable validity from data of a dubious

and vague nature. Predictively, having a social science number in hand

is seldom much better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. As

a rule, [12403]management loves them. See also [12404]numbers,

[12405]math-out, [12406]pretty pictures.

Node:sock puppet, Next:[12407]sodium substrate, Previous:[12408]social

science number, Up:[12409]= S =

sock puppet n.

[Usenet: from the act of placing a sock over your hand and talking to

it and pretending it's talking back] In Usenet parlance, a

[12410]pseudo through which the puppeteer posts follow-ups to their

own original message to give the appearance that a number of people

support the views held in the original message.

Node:sodium substrate, Next:[12411]soft boot, Previous:[12412]sock

puppet, Up:[12413]= S =

sodium substrate n.

Syn [12414]salt substrate.

Node:soft boot, Next:[12415]softcopy, Previous:[12416]sodium

substrate, Up:[12417]= S =

soft boot n.

See [12418]boot.

Node:softcopy, Next:[12419]software bloat, Previous:[12420]soft boot,

Up:[12421]= S =

softcopy /soft'kop-ee/ n.

[by analogy with `hardcopy'] A machine-readable form of corresponding

hardcopy. See [12422]bits, [12423]machinable.

Node:software bloat, Next:[12424]software hoarding,

Previous:[12425]softcopy, Up:[12426]= S =

software bloat n.

The results of [12427]second-system effect or [12428]creeping

featuritis. Commonly cited examples include ls(1), [12429]X,

[12430]BSD, [12431]Missed'em-five, and [12432]OS/2.

Node:software hoarding, Next:[12433]software laser,

Previous:[12434]software bloat, Up:[12435]= S =

software hoarding n.

Pejorative term employed by members and adherents of the [12436]GNU

project to describe the act of holding software proprietary, keeping

it under trade secret or license terms which prohibit free

redistribution and modification. Used primarily in Free Software

Foundation propaganda. For a summary of related issues, see

[12437]GNU.

Node:software laser, Next:[12438]software rot,

Previous:[12439]software hoarding, Up:[12440]= S =

software laser n.

An optical laser works by bouncing photons back and forth between two

mirrors, one totally reflective and one partially reflective. If the

lasing material (usually a crystal) has the right properties, photons

scattering off the atoms in the crystal will excite cascades of more

photons, all in lockstep. Eventually the beam will escape through the

partially-reflective mirror. One kind of [12441]sorcerer's apprentice

mode involving [12442]bounce messages can produce closely analogous

results, with a [12443]cascade of messages escaping to flood nearby

systems. By mid-1993 there had been at least two publicized incidents

of this kind.

Node:software rot, Next:[12444]softwarily, Previous:[12445]software

laser, Up:[12446]= S =

software rot n.

Term used to describe the tendency of software that has not been used

in a while to [12447]lose; such failure may be semi-humorously

ascribed to [12448]bit rot. More commonly, `software rot' strikes when

a program's assumptions become out of date. If the design was

insufficiently [12449]robust, this may cause it to fail in mysterious

ways. Syn. `code rot'. See also [12450]link rot.

For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL

programs, a good number of them succumbed to software rot when their

2-digit year counters underwent [12451]wrap around at the beginning of

the year 2000. Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians

who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative

clods. One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap in

1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 applied for a driver's license

renewal in Raleigh, North Carolina. The new system refused to issue

the card, probably because with 2-digit years the ages 101 and 1

cannot be distinguished.

Historical note: Software rot in an even funnier sense than the

mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g., the

R1; see [12452]grind crank). If a program that depended on a peculiar

instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user might discover

that the opcodes no longer did the same things they once did. ("Hey,

so-and-so needs an instruction to do such-and-such. We can

[12453]snarf this opcode, right? No one uses it.")

Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker

found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump

instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware. Unfortunately,

this broke some fragile timing software in a music-playing program,

throwing its output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a defensive

initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing loop with the

real-time clock; in other words, it figured out how fast the PDP-6 was

that day, and corrected appropriately.

Compare [12454]bit rot.

Node:softwarily, Next:[12455]softy, Previous:[12456]software rot,

Up:[12457]= S =

softwarily /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv.

In a way pertaining to software. "The system is softwarily

unreliable." The adjective **`softwary' is not used. See

[12458]hardwarily.

Node:softy, Next:[12459]some random X, Previous:[12460]softwarily,

Up:[12461]= S =

softy n.

[IBM] Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely

ignorant of the mysteries