The New Hacker's Dictionary by Eric S. Raymond (each kindness read aloud TXT) 📖

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DoS attack //

[Usenet,common; note that it's unrelated to `DOS' as name of an

operating system] Abbreviation for Denial-Of-Service attack. This

abbreviation is most often used of attempts to shut down newsgroups

with floods of [4149]spam, or to flood network links with large

amounts of traffic, or to flood network links with large amounts of

traffic, often by abusing network broadcast addresses Compare

[4150]slashdot effect.

Node:dot file, Next:[4151]double bucky, Previous:[4152]DoS attack,

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dot file [Unix] n.

A file that is not visible by default to normal directory-browsing

tools (on Unix, files named with a leading dot are, by convention, not

normally presented in directory listings). Many programs define one or

more dot files in which startup or configuration information may be

optionally recorded; a user can customize the program's behavior by

creating the appropriate file in the current or home directory.

(Therefore, dot files tend to [4154]creep -- with every nontrivial

application program defining at least one, a user's home directory can

be filled with scores of dot files, of course without the user's

really being aware of it.) See also [4155]profile (sense 1), [4156]rc

file.

Node:double bucky, Next:[4157]doubled sig, Previous:[4158]dot file,

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double bucky adj.

Using both the CTRL and META keys. "The command to burn all LEDs is

double bucky F."

This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and was

later taken up by users of the [4160]space-cadet keyboard at MIT. A

typical MIT comment was that the Stanford [4161]bucky bits (control

and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them;

you could type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard.

An obvious way to address this was simply to add more shifting keys,

and this was eventually done; but a keyboard with that many shifting

keys is hard on touch-typists, who don't like to move their hands away

from the home position on the keyboard. It was half-seriously

suggested that the extra shifting keys be implemented as pedals;

typing on such a keyboard would be very much like playing a full pipe

organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine song by

Jeffrey Moss called "Rubber Duckie", which was published in "The

Sesame Street Songbook" (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X).

These lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the

Stanford keyboard:

Double Bucky Double bucky, you're the one! You make my keyboard lots of fun. Double bucky, an additional bit or two: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Control and meta, side by side, Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide! Double bucky! Half a thousand glyphs, plus a few! Oh, I sure wish that I Had a couple of Bits more! Perhaps a Set of pedals to Make the number of Bits four: Double double bucky! Double bucky, left and right OR'd together, outta sight! Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you! --- The Great Quux (with apologies to Jeffrey Moss)

[This, by the way, is an excellent example of computer [4162]filk

--ESR] See also [4163]meta bit, [4164]cokebottle, and [4165]quadruple

bucky.

Node:doubled sig, Next:[4166]down, Previous:[4167]double bucky,

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doubled sig [Usenet] n.

A [4169]sig block that has been included twice in a [4170]Usenet

article or, less commonly, in an electronic mail message. An article

or message with a doubled sig can be caused by improperly configured

software. More often, however, it reveals the author's lack of

experience in electronic communication. See [4171]B1FF, [4172]pseudo.

Node:down, Next:[4173]download, Previous:[4174]doubled sig, Up:[4175]=

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down

adj. Not operating. "The up escalator is down" is considered a

humorous thing to say (unless of course you were expecting to use it),

and "The elevator is down" always means "The elevator isn't working"

and never refers to what floor the elevator is on. With respect to

computers, this term has passed into the mainstream; the extension to

other kinds of machine is still confined to techies (e.g. boiler

mechanics may speak of a boiler being down). 2. `go down' vi. To stop

functioning; usually said of the [4176]system. The message from the

[4177]console that every hacker hates to hear from the operator is

"System going down in 5 minutes". 3. take down',bring down' vt. To

deactivate purposely, usually for repair work or [4178]PM. "I'm taking

the system down to work on that bug in the tape drive." Occasionally

one hears the word `down' by itself used as a verb in this vt. sense.

See [4179]crash; oppose [4180]up.

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download vt.

To transfer data or (esp.) code from a far-away system (especially a

larger `host' system) over a digital communications link to a nearby

system (especially a smaller `client' system. Oppose [4184]upload.

Historical use of these terms was at one time associated with

transfers from large timesharing machines to PCs or peripherals

(download) and vice-versa (upload). The modern usage relative to the

speaker (rather than as an indicator of the size and role of the

machines) evolved as machine categories lost most of their former

functional importance.

Node:DP, Next:[4185]DPB, Previous:[4186]download, Up:[4187]= D =

DP /D-P/ n.

Data Processing. Listed here because, according to hackers, use of

the term marks one immediately as a [4188]suit. See [4189]DPer. 2.

Common abbrev for [4190]Dissociated Press.

Node:DPB, Next:[4191]DPer, Previous:[4192]DP, Up:[4193]= D =

DPB /d*-pib'/ vt.

[from the PDP-10 instruction set] To plop something down in the

middle. Usage: silly. "DPB yourself into that couch there." The

connotation would be that the couch is full except for one slot just

big enough for one last person to sit in. DPB means `DePosit Byte',

and was the name of a PDP-10 instruction that inserts some bits into

the middle of some other bits. Hackish usage has been kept alive by

the Common LISP function of the same name.

Node:DPer, Next:[4194]Dr. Fred Mbogo, Previous:[4195]DPB, Up:[4196]= D

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DPer /dee-pee-er/ n.

Data Processor. Hackers are absolutely amazed that [4197]suits use

this term self-referentially. Computers process data, not people! See

[4198]DP.

Node:Dr. Fred Mbogo, Next:[4199]dragon, Previous:[4200]DPer,

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Dr. Fred Mbogo /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ n.

[Stanford] The archetypal man you don't want to see about a problem,

esp. an incompetent professional; a shyster. "Do you know a good eye

doctor?" "Sure, try Mbogo Eye Care and Professional Dry Cleaning." The

name comes from synergy between [4202]bogus and the original Dr.

Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician on the old

"Addams Family" TV show. Interestingly enough, it turns out that under

the rules for Swahili noun classes, `m-' is the characteristic prefix

of "nouns referring to human beings". As such, "mbogo" is quite

plausible as a Swahili coinage for a person having the nature of a

[4203]bogon. Compare [4204]Bloggs Family and [4205]J. Random Hacker;

see also [4206]Fred Foobar and [4207]fred.

Node:dragon, Next:[4208]Dragon Book, Previous:[4209]Dr. Fred Mbogo,

Up:[4210]= D =

dragon n.

[MIT] A program similar to a [4211]daemon, except that it is not

invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to perform various

secondary tasks. A typical example would be an accounting program,

which keeps track of who is logged in, accumulates load-average

statistics, etc. Under ITS, many terminals displayed a list of people

logged in, where they were, what they were running, etc., along with

some random picture (such as a unicorn, Snoopy, or the Enterprise),

which was generated by the `name dragon'. Usage: rare outside MIT --

under Unix and most other OSes this would be called a `background

demon' or [4212]daemon. The best-known Unix example of a dragon is

cron(1). At SAIL, they called this sort of thing a `phantom'.

Node:Dragon Book, Next:[4213]drain, Previous:[4214]dragon, Up:[4215]=

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Dragon Book n.

The classic text "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by

Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman (Addison-Wesley 1986;

ISBN 0-201-10088-6), so called because of the cover design featuring a

dragon labeled `complexity of compiler design' and a knight bearing

the lance `LALR parser generator' among his other trappings. This one

is more specifically known as the `Red Dragon Book' (1986); an earlier

edition, sans Sethi and titled "Principles Of Compiler Design" (Alfred

V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman; Addison-Wesley, 1977; ISBN

0-201-00022-9), was the Green Dragon Book' (1977). (AlsoNew Dragon

Book', `Old Dragon Book'.) The horsed knight and the Green Dragon were

warily eying each other at a distance; now the knight is typing

(wearing gauntlets!) at a terminal showing a video-game representation

of the Red Dragon's head while the rest of the beast extends back in

normal space. See also [4216]book titles.

Node:drain, Next:[4217]dread high-bit disease, Previous:[4218]Dragon

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drain v.

[IBM] Syn. for [4220]flush (sense 2). Has a connotation of finality

about it; one speaks of draining a device before taking it offline.

Node:dread high-bit disease, Next:[4221]Dread Questionmark Disease,

Previous:[4222]drain, Up:[4223]= D =

dread high-bit disease n.

A condition endemic to some now-obsolete computers and peripherals

(including ASR-33 teletypes and PRIME minicomputers) that results in

all characters having their high (0x80) bit forced on. This of course

makes transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not to

mention the problems these machines have talking with true 8-bit

devices.

This term was originally used specifically of PRIME (a.k.a. PR1ME)

minicomputers. Folklore has it that PRIME adopted the reversed-8-bit

convention in order to save 25 cents per serial line per machine;

PRIME old-timers, on the other hand, claim they inherited the disease

from Honeywell via customer NASA's compatibility requirements and

struggled heroically to cure it. Whoever was responsible, this

probably qualifies as one of the most [4224]cretinous design tradeoffs

ever made. See [4225]meta bit.

Node:Dread Questionmark Disease, Next:[4226]DRECNET,

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Dread Questionmark Disease

n. The result of saving HTML from Microsoft Word or some other program

that uses the nonstandard Microsoft variant of Latin-1; the symptom is

that various of those nonstandard characters in positions 128-160 show

up as questionmarks. The usual culprit is the misnamed `smart quotes'

feature in Microsoft Word. For more details (and a program called

`demoroniser' that cleans up the mess) see

[4229]http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/demoroniser/.

Node:DRECNET, Next:[4230]driver, Previous:[4231]Dread Questionmark

Disease, Up:[4232]= D =

DRECNET /drek'net/ n.

[from Yiddish/German `dreck', meaning filth] Deliberate distortion of

DECNET, a networking protocol used in the [4233]VMS community. So

called because [4234]DEC helped write the Ethernet specification and

then (either stupidly or as a malignant customer-control tactic)

violated that spec in the design of DRECNET in a way that made it

incompatible. See also [4235]connector conspiracy.

Node:driver, Next:[4236]droid, Previous:[4237]DRECNET, Up:[4238]= D =

driver n.

The [4239]main loop of an event-processing program; the code that

gets commands and dispatches them for execution. 2. [techspeak] In

`device driver', code designed to handle a particular peripheral

device such as a magnetic disk or tape unit. 3. In the TeX world and

the computerized typesetting world in general, a program that

translates some device-independent or other common format to something

a real device can actually understand.

Node:droid, Next:[4240]drone, Previous:[4241]driver, Up:[4242]= D =

droid n.

[from `android', SF terminology for a humanoid robot of essentially

biological (as opposed to mechanical/electronic) construction] A

person (esp. a low-level bureaucrat or service-business employee)

exhibiting most of the following characteristics: (a) naive trust in

the wisdom of the parent organization or `the system'; (b) a

blind-faith propensity to believe obvious nonsense