The New Hacker's Dictionary

191

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Node:brittle, Next:[1960]broadcast storm, Previous:[1961]bring X to its knees, Up:[1962]= B =

brittle adj.

Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g., a file system that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle. This term is often used to describe the results of a research effort that were never intended to be robust, but it can be applied to commercial software, which (due to closed-source development) displays the quality far more often than it ought to. Oppose [1963]robust.

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Node:broadcast storm, Next:[1964]brochureware, Previous:[1965]brittle, Up:[1966]= B =

broadcast storm n.

[common] An incorrect packet broadcast on a network that causes most hosts to respond all at once, typically with wrong answers that start the process over again. See [1967]network meltdown; compare [1968]mail storm.

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Node:brochureware, Next:[1969]broken, Previous:[1970]broadcast storm, Up:[1971]= B =

brochureware n.

192

Planned but non-existent product like [1972]vaporware, but with the added implication that marketing is actively selling and promoting it (they've printed brochures). Brochureware is often deployed as a strategic weapon; the idea is to con customers into not committing to an existing product of the competition's. It is a safe bet that when a brochureware product finally becomes real, it will be more expensive than and inferior to the alternatives that had been available for years.

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Node:broken, Next:[1973]broken arrow, Previous:[1974]brochureware, Up:[1975]= B =

broken adj.

1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme depression.

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Node:broken arrow, Next:[1976]BrokenWindows, Previous:[1977]broken, Up:[1978]= B =

broken arrow n.

[IBM] The error code displayed on line 25 of a 3270 terminal (or a PC emulating a 3270) for various kinds of protocol violations and "unexpected" error conditions (including connection to a [1979]down computer). On a PC, simulated with `->/---', with the two center characters overstruck.

Note: to appreciate this term fully, it helps to know that `broken arrow' is

also military jargon for an accident involving nuclear weapons....

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194

in question has been most tersely expressed as "Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice (though it's not the whole story; see [1994]bazaar); too often, [1995]management still does. See also [1996]creationism, [1997]second-system effect, [1998]optimism.

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Node:brown-paper-bag bug, Next:[1999]browser, Previous:[2000]Brooks's Law, Up:[2001]= B =

brown-paper-bag bug n.

A bug in a public software release that is so embarrassing that the author notionally wears a brown paper bag over his head for a while so he won't be recognized on the net. Entered popular usage after the early-1999 release of the first Linux 2.2, which had one. The phrase was used in Linus Torvalds's apology posting.

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Node:browser, Next:[2002]BRS, Previous:[2003]brown-paper-bag bug, Up:[2004]= B =

browser n.

A program specifically designed to help users view and navigate hypertext, on-line documentation, or a database. While this general sense has been present in jargon for a long time, the proliferation of browsers for the World Wide Web after 1992 has made it much more popular and provided a central or default techspeak meaning of the word previously lacking in hacker usage. Nowadays, if someone mentions using a `browser' without qualification, one may assume it is a Web browser.

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196

A more simple-minded example of brute-force programming is finding the smallest number in a large list by first using an existing program to sort the list in ascending order, and then picking the first number off the front.

Whether brute-force programming should actually be considered stupid or not depends on the context; if the problem is not terribly big, the extra CPU time spent on a brute-force solution may cost less than the programmer time it would take to develop a more `intelligent' algorithm. Additionally, a more intelligent algorithm may imply more long-term complexity cost and bug-chasing than are justified by the speed improvement.

Ken Thompson, co-inventor of Unix, is reported to have uttered the epigram "When in doubt, use brute force". He probably intended this as a [2017]ha ha only serious, but the original Unix kernel's preference for simple, robust, and portable algorithms over [2018]brittle `smart' ones does seem to have been a significant factor in the success of that OS. Like so many other tradeoffs in software design, the choice between brute force and complex, finely-tuned cleverness is often a difficult one that requires both engineering savvy and delicate esthetic judgment.

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Node:brute force and ignorance, Next:[2019]BSD, Previous:[2020]brute force, Up:[2021]= B =

brute force and ignorance n.

A popular design technique at many software houses -- [2022]brute force coding unrelieved by any knowledge of how problems have been previously solved in elegant ways. Dogmatic adherence to design methodologies tends to encourage this sort of thing. Characteristic of early [2023]larval stage programming; unfortunately, many never outgrow it. Often abbreviated BFI: "Gak, they used a [2024]bubble sort! That's strictly from BFI." Compare [2025]bogosity.

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198

[2044]banner (sense 2) programs. These are sometimes used to render one's name in a [2045]sig block, and are critically referred to as `BUAF's. See [2046]warlording.

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Node:BUAG, Next:[2047]bubble sort, Previous:[2048]BUAF, Up:[2049]= B =

BUAG // n.

[abbreviation, from alt.fan.warlord] Big Ugly ASCII Graphic. Pejorative term for ugly [2050]ASCII art, especially as found in [2051]sig blocks. For some reason, mutations of the head of Bart Simpson are particularly common in the least imaginative [2052]sig blocks. See [2053]warlording.

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Node:bubble sort, Next:[2054]bucky bits, Previous:[2055]BUAG, Up:[2056]= B =

bubble sort n.

Techspeak for a particular sorting technique in which pairs of adjacent values in the list to be sorted are compared and interchanged if they are out of order; thus, list entries `bubble upward' in the list until they bump into one with a lower sort value. Because it is not very good relative to other methods and is the one typically stumbled on by [2057]naive and untutored programmers, hackers consider it the [2058]canonical example of a naive algorithm. (However, it's been shown by repeated experiment that below about 5000 records bubble-sort is OK anyway.) The canonical example of a really bad algorithm is [2059]bogo-sort. A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance, but any use of bogo-sort could issue only from brain damage or willful perversity.

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Node:bucky bits, Next:[2060]buffer chuck, Previous:[2061]bubble sort, Up:[2062]= B =

bucky bits /buh'kee bits/ n.

1. obs. The bits produced by the CONTROL and META shift keys on a SAIL keyboard (octal 200 and 400 respectively), resulting in a 9-bit keyboard character set. The MIT AI TV (Knight) keyboards extended this with TOP and separate left and right CONTROL and META keys, resulting in a 12-bit character set; later, LISP Machines added such keys as SUPER, HYPER, and GREEK (see [2063]space-cadet keyboard). 2. By extension, bits associated with `extra' shift keys on any keyboard, e.g., the ALT on an IBM PC or command and option keys on a Macintosh.

It has long been rumored that `bucky bits' were named for Buckminster Fuller during a period when he was consulting at Stanford. Actually, bucky bits were invented by Niklaus Wirth when he was at Stanford in 1964-65; he first suggested the idea of an EDIT key to set the 8th bit of an otherwise 7-bit ASCII character). It seems that, unknown to Wirth, certain Stanford hackers had privately nicknamed him `Bucky' after a prominent portion of his dental anatomy, and this nickname transferred to the bit. Bucky-bit commands were used in a number of editors written at Stanford, including most notably TV-EDIT and NLS.

The term spread to MIT and CMU early and is now in general use. Ironically, Wirth himself remained unaware of its derivation for nearly 30 years, until GLS dug up this history in early 1993! See [2064]double bucky, [2065]quadruple bucky.

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Node:buffer chuck, Next:[2066]buffer overflow, Previous:[2067]bucky bits, Up:[2068]= B =

buffer chuck n.