The New Hacker's Dictionary
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A [5083]magic number, sense 3.
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filk /filk/ n.,v.
[from SF fandom, where a typo for `folk' was adopted as a new word] A popular or folk song with lyrics revised or completely new lyrics and/or music, intended for humorous effect when read, and/or to be sung late at night at SF conventions. There is a flourishing subgenre of these called `computer filks', written by hackers and often containing rather sophisticated technical humor. See [5087]double bucky for an example. Compare [5088]grilf, [5089]hing, [5090]pr0n, and [5091]newsfroup.
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film at 11
[MIT: in parody of TV newscasters] 1. Used in conversation to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic implication that these events are earth-shattering. "[5095]ITS crashes; film at 11." "Bug found in scheduler; film at 11." 2. Also widely used outside MIT to indicate that additional information will be available at some future time, without the implication of anything particularly ordinary about the referenced event. For example, "The mail file server died this morning; we found garbage all over the root directory. Film at 11." would indicate that a major failure had occurred but that the people working on it have no additional information about it as yet; use of the phrase in this way suggests gently that the problem is liable to be fixed more quickly if the people doing the fixing can spend time doing the fixing rather than responding to questions, the answers to which will appear on the normal "11:00 news", if people will just be patient.
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The variant "MPEGs at 11" has recently been cited (MPEG is a digital-video format.)
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Node:filter, Next:[5096]Finagle's Law, Previous:[5097]film at 11,
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filter n.
[very common; orig. [5099]Unix, now also in [5100]MS-DOS] A program that processes an input data stream into an output data stream in some well-defined way, and does no I/O to anywhere else except possibly on error conditions; one designed to be used as a stage in a `pipeline' (see [5101]plumbing). Compare [5102]sponge.
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Finagle's Law n.
The generalized or `folk' version of [5106]Murphy's Law, fully named "Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives" and usually rendered "Anything that can go wrong, will". One variant favored among hackers is "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum" (but see also [5107]Hanlon's Razor). The label `Finagle's Law' was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of asteroid miners; this `Belter' culture professed a religion and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy. Some technical and scientific cultures (e.g., paleontologists) know it under the name `Sod's Law'; this usage may be more common in Great Britain.
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fine adj.
[WPI] Good, but not good enough to be [5111]cuspy. The word `fine' is used elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit comparison to the higher level implied by [5112]cuspy.
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finger
[WAITS, via BSD Unix] 1. n. A program that displays information about a particular user or all users logged on the system, or a remote system. Typically shows full name, last login time, idle time, terminal line, and terminal location (where applicable). May also display a [5116]plan file left by the user (see also [5117]Hacking X for Y). 2. vt. To apply finger to a username. 3. vt. By extension, to check a human's current state by any means. "Foodp?" "T!" "OK, finger Lisa and see if she's idle." 4. Any picture (composed of ASCII characters) depicting `the finger'. Originally a humorous component of one's plan file to deter the curious fingerer (sense 2), it has entered the arsenal of some [5118]flamers.
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Node:finger trouble, Next:[5119]finger-pointing syndrome, Previous:[5120]finger, Up:[5121]= F =
finger trouble n.
Mistyping, typos, or generalized keyboard incompetence (this is surprisingly common among hackers, given the amount of time they spend
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at keyboards). "I keep putting colons at the end of statements instead of semicolons", "Finger trouble again, eh?".
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Node:finger-pointing syndrome, Next:[5122]finn, Previous:[5123]finger trouble, Up:[5124]= F =
finger-pointing syndrome n.
All-too-frequent result of bugs, esp. in new or experimental configurations. The hardware vendor points a finger at the software. The software vendor points a finger at the hardware. All the poor users get is the finger.
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Node:finn, Next:[5125]firebottle, Previous:[5126]finger-pointing syndrome, Up:[5127]= F =
finn v.
[IRC] To pull rank on somebody based on the amount of time one has spent on [5128]IRC. The term derives from the fact that IRC was originally written in Finland in 1987. There may be some influence from the `Finn' character in William Gibson's seminal cyberpunk novel "Count Zero", who at one point says to another (much younger) character "I have a pair of shoes older than you are, so shut up!"
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firebottle n.obs.
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A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical device, similar in function to a FET but constructed out of glass, metal, and vacuum. Characterized by high cost, low density, low reliability, high-temperature operation, and high power dissipation. Sometimes mistakenly called a `tube' in the U.S. or a `valve' in England; another hackish term is [5132]glassfet.
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firefighting n.
1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden operational problems. An opposite of hacking. "Been hacking your new newsreader?" "No, a power glitch hosed the network and I spent the whole afternoon fighting fires." 2. The act of throwing lots of manpower and late nights at a project, esp. to get it out before deadline. See also [5136]gang bang, [5137]Mongolian Hordes technique; however, the term `firefighting' connotes that the effort is going into chasing bugs rather than adding features.
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firehose syndrome n.
In mainstream folklore it is observed that trying to drink from a firehose can be a good way to rip your lips off. On computer networks, the absence or failure of flow control mechanisms can lead to situations in which the sending system sprays a massive flood of packets at an unfortunate receiving system, more than it can handle. Compare [5141]overrun, [5142]buffer overflow.
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firewall code n.
1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage. Since users always want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a system where they can burn themselves. 2. Any sanity check inserted to catch a [5146]can't happen error. Wise programmers often change code to fix a bug twice: once to fix the bug, and once to insert a firewall which would have arrested the bug before it did quite as much damage.
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firewall machine n.
A dedicated gateway machine with special security precautions on it, used to service outside network connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to protect a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden behind it from [5150]crackers. The typical firewall is an inexpensive micro-based Unix box kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and public network ports on it but just one carefully watched connection back to the rest of the cluster. The special precautions may include threat monitoring, callback, and even a complete [5151]iron box keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity patterns. Syn. [5152]flytrap, [5153]Venus flytrap.
[When first coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon. Now (1999) it is techspeak, and has been retained only as an example of uptake --ESR]
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fireworks mode n.
1. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when it is performing a [5157]crash and burn operation. 2. There is (or was) a more specific meaning of this term in the Amiga community. The word fireworks described the effects of a particularly serious crash which prevented the video pointer(s) from getting reset at the start of the vertical blank. This caused the DAC to scroll through the entire contents of CHIP (video or video+CPU) memory. Since each bit plane would scroll separately this was quite a spectacular effect.
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firmware /ferm'weir/ n.
Embedded software contained in EPROM or flash memory. It isn't quite hardware, but at least doesn't have to be loaded from a disk like regular software. Hacker usage differs from straight techspeak in that hackers don't normally apply it to stuff that you can't possibly get at, such as the program that runs a pocket calculator. Instead, it implies that the firmware could be changed, even if doing so would mean opening a box and plugging in a new chip. A computer's BIOS is the classic example, although nowadays there is firmware in disk controllers, modems, video cards and even CD-ROM drives.
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firmy /fer'mee/ n.
Syn. [5164]stiffy (a 3.5-inch floppy disk).
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fish n.
[Adelaide University, Australia] 1. Another [5168]metasyntactic variable. See [5169]foo. Derived originally from the Monty Python skit in the middle of "The Meaning of Life" entitled "Find the Fish". 2. A pun for `microfiche'. A microfiche file cabinet may be referred to as a `fish tank'.
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Node:FISH queue, Next:[5170]FITNR, Previous:[5171]fish, Up:[5172]= F
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FISH queue n.
[acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)] `First In, Still Here'. A joking way of pointing out that processing of a particular sequence of events or requests has stopped dead. Also `FISH mode' and `FISHnet'; the latter may be applied to any network that is running really slowly or exhibiting extreme flakiness.
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Node:FITNR, Next:[5173]fix, Previous:[5174]FISH queue, Up:[5175]= F =
FITNR // adj.
[Thinking Machines, Inc.] Fixed In The Next Release. A written-only notation attached to bug reports. Often wishful thinking.
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fix n.,v.
What one does when a problem has been reported too many times to be ignored.
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FIXME imp.
[common] A standard tag often put in C comments near a piece of code that needs work. The point of doing so is that a grep or a similar pattern-matching tool can find all such places quickly. /* FIXME: note this is common in [5182]GNU code. */
Compare [5183]XXX.
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flag n.
[very common] A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes or is used to control which of two things is to be done. "This flag controls whether to clear the screen before printing the message." "The program status word contains several flag bits." Used of humans analogously to [5187]bit. See also [5188]hidden flag, [5189]mode bit.
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flag day n.
A software change that is neither forwardnor backward-compatible, and which is costly to make and costly to reverse. "Can we install that without causing a flag day for all users?" This term has nothing to do with the use of the word [5193]flag to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use when a massive change was made to the [5194]Multics timesharing system to convert from the short-lived 1965 version of the ASCII code to the 1967 version (in draft at the time); this was scheduled for Flag Day (a U.S. holiday), June 14, 1966. The actual change moved the code point for the ASCII newline character; this required that all of the Multics source code, documentation, and device drivers be changed simultaneously. See also [5195]backward combatability.
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Node:flaky, Next:[5196]flamage, Previous:[5197]flag day, Up:[5198]= F =
flaky adj.
(var sp. `flakey') Subject to frequent [5199]lossage. This use is of course related to the common slang use of the word to describe a person as eccentric, crazy, or just unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, sort of -- enough that you are tempted to try to use it -- but fails frequently enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. Commonwealth hackish prefers [5200]dodgy or [5201]wonky.
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flamage /flay'm*j/ n.