The New Hacker's Dictionary

91

Automatically, but in a way that, for some reason (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you. See [685]magic. "The C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically invokes cc(1) to produce an executable."

This term is quite old, going back at least to the mid-70s in jargon and probably much earlier. The word `automagic' occurred in advertising (for a shirt-ironing gadget) as far back as the late 1940s.

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Node:avatar, Next:[686]awk, Previous:[687]automagically, Up:[688]= A =

avatar n. Syn.

[in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of a god] 1. Among people working on virtual reality and [689]cyberspace interfaces, an avatar is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on [690]MUDs. 2. [CMU, Tektronix] [691]root, [692]superuser. There are quite a few Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is `avatar' rather than `root'. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms `root' and `superuser' unimaginative, and thought `avatar' might better impress people with the responsibility they were accepting.

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Node:awk, Next:[693]B5, Previous:[694]avatar, Up:[695]= A =

awk /awk/

1. n. [Unix techspeak] An interpreted language for massaging text data developed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan (the name derives from their initials). It is characterized by C-like syntax, a declaration-free approach to variable typing and declarations, associative

93

*[714]Bad Thing:

*[715]bag on the side:

*[716]bagbiter:

*[717]bagbiting:

*[718]baggy pantsing:

*[719]balloonian variable:

*[720]bamf:

*[721]banana label:

*[722]banana problem:

*[723]banner ad:

*[724]banner site:

*[725]barn:

*[726]batbelt:

*[727]Befunge:

*[728]BI:

*[729]binary four:

*[730]bandwidth:

*[731]bang:

94

*[732]bang on:

*[733]bang path:

*[734]banner:

*[735]bar:

*[736]bare metal:

*[737]barf:

*[738]barfmail:

*[739]barfulation:

*[740]barfulous:

*[741]barney:

*[742]baroque:

*[743]BASIC:

*[744]batch:

*[745]bathtub curve:

*[746]baud:

*[747]baud barf:

*[748]baz:

*[749]bazaar:

95

*[750]bboard:

*[751]BBS:

*[752]BCPL:

*[753]beam:

*[754]beanie key:

*[755]beep:

*[756]beige toaster:

*[757]bells and whistles:

*[758]bells whistles and gongs:

*[759]benchmark:

*[760]Berkeley Quality Software:

*[761]berklix:

*[762]Berzerkeley:

*[763]beta:

*[764]BFI:

*[765]bible:

*[766]BiCapitalization:

*[767]B1FF:

96

*[768]biff:

*[769]Big Gray Wall:

*[770]big iron:

*[771]Big Red Switch:

*[772]Big Room:

*[773]big win:

*[774]big-endian:

*[775]bignum:

*[776]bigot:

*[777]bit:

*[778]bit bang:

*[779]bit bashing:

*[780]bit bucket:

*[781]bit decay:

*[782]bit rot:

*[783]bit twiddling:

*[784]bit-paired keyboard:

*[785]bitblt:

97

*[786]BITNET:

*[787]bits:

*[788]bitty box:

*[789]bixen:

*[790]bixie:

*[791]black art:

*[792]black hole:

*[793]black magic:

*[794]Black Screen of Death:

*[795]Black Thursday:

*[796]blammo:

*[797]blargh:

*[798]blast:

*[799]blat:

*[800]bletch:

*[801]bletcherous:

*[802]blink:

*[803]blinkenlights:

98

*[804]blit:

*[805]blitter:

*[806]blivet:

*[807]bloatware:

*[808]BLOB:

*[809]block:

*[810]block transfer computations:

*[811]Bloggs Family:

*[812]blow an EPROM:

*[813]blow away:

*[814]blow out:

*[815]blow past:

*[816]blow up:

*[817]BLT:

*[818]Blue Book:

*[819]blue box:

*[820]Blue Glue:

*[821]blue goo:

99

*[822]Blue Screen of Death:

*[823]blue wire:

*[824]blurgle:

*[825]BNF:

*[826]boa:

*[827]board:

*[828]boat anchor:

*[829]bob:

*[830]bodysurf code:

*[831]BOF:

*[832]BOFH:

*[833]bogo-sort:

*[834]bogometer:

*[835]BogoMIPS:

*[836]bogon:

*[837]bogon filter:

*[838]bogon flux:

*[839]bogosity:

100

*[840]bogotify:

*[841]bogue out:

*[842]bogus:

*[843]Bohr bug:

*[844]boink:

*[845]bomb:

*[846]bondage-and-discipline language:

*[847]bonk/oif:

*[848]book titles:

*[849]boot:

*[850]Borg:

*[851]borken:

*[852]bot:

*[853]bot spot:

*[854]bottom feeder:

*[855]bottom-up implementation:

*[856]bounce:

*[857]bounce message: