The New Hacker's Dictionary

261

To surround a section of code with comment delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted. Often done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but is being left in the source to make the intent of the active code clearer; also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass it in order to debug some other part of the code. Compare [2815]condition out, usually the preferred technique in languages (such as [2816]C) that make it possible.

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Node:Commonwealth Hackish, Next:[2817]compact,

Previous:[2818]comment out, Up:[2819]= C =

Commonwealth Hackish n.

Hacker jargon as spoken in English outside the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth. It is reported that Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like `char' and `soc', etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/), as opposed to American /keir/ and /sohsh/. Dots in [2820]newsgroup names (especially two-component names) tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/).

Preferred [2821]metasyntactic variables include [2822]blurgle, eek, ook, frodo, and bilbo; [2823]wibble, wobble, and in emergencies wubble; flob, banana, tom, dick, harry, wombat, frog, [2824]fish, [2825]womble and so on and on (see [2826]foo, sense 4). Alternatives to verb doubling include suffixes `-o-rama', `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy), and `city' (examples:

"barf city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!").

All the generic differences within the anglophone world inevitably show themselves in the associated hackish dialects. The Greek letters beta and zeta are usually pronounced /bee't*/ and /zee't*/; meta may also be pronounced /mee't*/. Various punctuators (and even letters - Z is called `zed', not `zee') are named differently: most crucially, for hackish, where Americans use `parens', `brackets' and `braces' for (), [] and {},

262

Commonwealth English uses `brackets', `square brackets' and `curly brackets', though `parentheses' may be used for the first; the exclamation mark, `!', is called pling rather than bang and the pound sign, `#', is called hash; furthermore, the term `the pound sign' is understood to mean the pound currency symbol (of course).

See also [2827]attoparsec, [2828]calculator, [2829]chemist, [2830]console jockey, [2831]fish, [2832]go-faster stripes, [2833]grunge, [2834]hakspek, [2835]heavy metal, [2836]leaky heap, [2837]lord high fixer, [2838]loose bytes, [2839]muddie, [2840]nadger, [2841]noddy, [2842]psychedelicware, [2843]plingnet, [2844]raster blaster, [2845]RTBM, [2846]seggie, [2847]spod, [2848]sun lounge, [2849]terminal junkie, [2850]tick-list features, [2851]weeble, [2852]weasel, [2853]YABA, and notes or definitions under [2854]Bad Thing, [2855]barf, [2856]bogus, [2857]bum, [2858]chase pointers, [2859]cosmic rays, [2860]crippleware, [2861]crunch, [2862]dodgy, [2863]gonk, [2864]hamster, [2865]hardwarily, [2866]mess-dos, [2867]nybble, [2868]proglet, [2869]root, [2870]SEX, [2871]tweak, [2872]womble, and [2873]xyzzy.

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Node:compact, Next:[2874]compiler jock, Previous:[2875]Commonwealth Hackish, Up:[2876]= C =

compact adj.

Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful than FORTRAN. Designs become non-compact through accreting [2877]features and [2878]cruft that don't merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some fans of [2879]Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact).

263

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Node:compiler jock, Next:[2880]compo, Previous:[2881]compact, Up:[2882]= C =

compiler jock n.

See [2883]jock (sense 2).

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Node:compo, Next:[2884]compress, Previous:[2885]compiler jock, Up:[2886]= C =

compo n.

[[2887]demoscene] Finnish-originated slang for `competition'. Demo compos are held at a [2888]demoparty. The usual protocol is that several groups make demos for a compo, they are shown on a big screen, and then the party participants vote for the best one. Prizes (from sponsors and party entrance fees) are given. Standard compo formats include [2889]intro compos (4k or 64k demos), music compos, graphics compos, quick [2890]demo compos (build a demo within 4 hours for example), etc.

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Node:compress, Next:[2891]Compu$erve, Previous:[2892]compo,

Up:[2893]= C =

compress [Unix] vt.

When used without a qualifier, generally refers to [2894]crunching of a file using a particular C implementation of compression by Joseph M. Orost et al. and widely circulated via [2895]Usenet; use of [2896]crunch itself in this sense is rare among Unix hackers. Specifically, compress is built around the Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm as described in "A Technique for

264

High Performance Data Compression", Terry A. Welch, "IEEE Computer", vol. 17, no. 6 (June 1984), pp. 8-19.

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Node:Compu$erve, Next:[2897]computer confetti,

Previous:[2898]compress, Up:[2899]= C =

Compu$erve n.

See [2900]CI$. Synonyms CompuSpend and Compu$pend are also reported.

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Node:computer confetti, Next:[2901]computer geek,

Previous:[2902]Compu$erve, Up:[2903]= C =

computer confetti n.

Syn. [2904]chad. Though this term is common, this use of punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes. GLS reports that he once attended a wedding at MIT during which he and a few other guests enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair.

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Node:computer geek, Next:[2905]computron, Previous:[2906]computer confetti, Up:[2907]= C =

computer geek n.

1. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living. One who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers: an asocial, malodorous,

265

pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. Cannot be used by outsiders without implied insult to all hackers; compare black-on-black vs. white-on-black usage of `nigger'. A computer geek may be either a fundamentally clueless individual or a proto-hacker in [2908]larval stage. Also called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'. See also [2909]propeller head, [2910]clustergeeking, [2911]geek out, [2912]wannabee, [2913]terminal junkie, [2914]spod, [2915]weenie. 2. Some self-described computer geeks use this term in a positive sense and protest sense 1 (this seems to have been a post-1990 development). For one such argument, see [2916]http://www.darkwater.com/omni/geek.html. See also [2917]geek code.

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Node:computron, Next:[2918]con, Previous:[2919]computer geek, Up:[2920]= C =

computron /kom'pyoo-tron`/

n. 1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times megabytes-of-mass-storage. "That machine can't run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have enough computrons!" This usage is usually found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See [2921]bitty box, [2922]Get a real computer!, [2923]toy, [2924]crank. 2. A mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of computation or information, in much the same way that an electron bears one unit of electric charge (see also [2925]bogon). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the molecules in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an object melts because the molecules have lost their information about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is

267

Node:condom, Next:[2936]confuser, Previous:[2937]condition out, Up:[2938]= C =

condom n.

1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of [2939]SEX but has also been shown to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk -- and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The protective cladding on a [2940]light pipe. 3. `keyboard condom': A flexible, transparent plastic cover for a keyboard, designed to provide some protection against dust and [2941]programming fluid without impeding typing. 4. `elephant condom': the plastic shipping bags used inside cardboard boxes to protect hardware in transit. 5. n. obs. A dummy directory /usr/tmp/sh, created to foil the [2942]Great Worm by exploiting a portability bug in one of its parts. So named in the title of a comp.risks article by Gene Spafford during the Worm crisis, and again in the text of "The Internet Worm Program: An Analysis", Purdue Technical Report CSD-TR-823.

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Node:confuser, Next:[2943]connector conspiracy, Previous:[2944]condom, Up:[2945]= C =

confuser n.

Common soundalike slang for `computer'. Usually encountered in compounds such as `confuser room', `personal confuser', `confuser guru'. Usage: silly.

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Node:connector conspiracy, Next:[2946]cons, Previous:[2947]confuser, Up:[2948]= C =

269

[from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element to a specified list, esp. at the top. "OK, cons picking a replacement for the console TTY onto the agenda." 2. `cons up': vt. To synthesize from smaller pieces: "to cons up an example".

In LISP itself, cons is the most fundamental operation for building structures. It takes any two objects and returns a `dot-pair' or two-branched tree with one object hanging from each branch. Because the result of a cons is an object, it can be used to build binary trees of any shape and complexity. Hackers think of it as a sort of universal constructor, and that is where the jargon meanings spring from.

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Node:considered harmful, Next:[2955]console, Previous:[2956]cons, Up:[2957]= C =

considered harmful adj.

[very common] Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the March 1968 "Communications of the ACM", "Goto Statement Considered Harmful", fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars (text at [2958]http://www.acm.org/classics). Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. (Years afterwards, a contrary view was uttered in a CACM letter called, inevitably, "`Goto considered harmful' considered harmful'"'. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies have borne titles of the form "X considered Y". The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realization that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the `considered silly' found at various places in this lexicon is related).

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Node:console, Next:[2959]console jockey, Previous:[2960]considered harmful, Up:[2961]= C =

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console n.

1. The operator's station of a [2962]mainframe. In times past, this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on its keys. Under Unix and other modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the [2963]tty the system was booted from. Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix, /dev/console). 2. On microcomputer Unix boxes, the main screen and keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a serial port). Typically only the console can do real graphics or run [2964]X.

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Node:console jockey, Next:[2965]content-free, Previous:[2966]console, Up:[2967]= C =

console jockey n.

See [2968]terminal junkie.

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Node:content-free, Next:[2969]control-C, Previous:[2970]console jockey, Up:[2971]= C =

content-free adj.

[by analogy with techspeak `context-free'] Used of a message that adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge. Though this adjective is sometimes applied to [2972]flamage, it more usually connotes derision for communication styles that exalt form over substance or are centered on concerns irrelevant to the subject ostensibly at hand. Perhaps most used with reference to speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators. "Content-free? Uh... that's anything printed on glossy paper."