The New Hacker's Dictionary
.pdf471
stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. See [5576]terminak for a historical example and compare [5577]dread high-bit disease. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal or comm program on a device like an IBM PC with a special `high-half' character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway.
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Node:front end, Next:[5578]frotz, Previous:[5579]frogging, Up:[5580]= F
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front end n.
1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a `back end'). 2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making replies without paying attention. "Look at the dancing elephants!" "Uh-huh." "Do you know what I just said?" "Sorry, you were talking to the front end." 3. Software that provides an interface to another program `behind' it, which may not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes.
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Node:frotz, Next:[5581]frotzed, Previous:[5582]front end, Up:[5583]= F =
frotz /frots/
1. n. See [5584]frobnitz. 2. `mumble frotz': An interjection of mildest disgust.
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Node:frotzed, Next:[5585]frowney, Previous:[5586]frotz, Up:[5587]= F =
frotzed /frotst/ adj.
[5588]down because of hardware problems. Compare [5589]fried. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged.
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Node:frowney, Next:[5590]FRS, Previous:[5591]frotzed, Up:[5592]= F =
frowney n.
(alt. `frowney face') See [5593]emoticon.
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Node:FRS, Next:[5594]fry, Previous:[5595]frowney, Up:[5596]= F =
FRS // n.,obs.
Abbreviation for "Freely Redistributable Software" which entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after years of low-level confusion over what exactly to call software written to be passed around and shared (contending terms including [5597]freeware, [5598]shareware, and `sourceware' were never universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons). The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was held in Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by the Free Software Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS abbreviation heavily in its calls for papers and other literature during 1995. The term was in steady though not common use until 1998 and the invention of [5599]open source.
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Node:fry, Next:[5600]fscking, Previous:[5601]FRS, Up:[5602]= F =
fry
1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See [5603]fried, [5604]magic smoke. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to [5605]roach, [5606]toast, or [5607]hose a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare [5608]fried.
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Node:fscking, Next:[5609]FSF, Previous:[5610]fry, Up:[5611]= F =
fscking /fus'-king/ or /eff'-seek-ing/ adj.
[Usenet; common] Fucking, in the expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck(1), of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a bad day). Originated on [5612]scary devil monastery and the bofh.net newsgroups, but became much more widespread following the passage of [5613]CDA. Also occasionally seen in the variant "What the fsck?"
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Node:FSF, Next:[5614]FTP, Previous:[5615]fscking, Up:[5616]= F =
FSF /F-S-F/ abbrev.
Common abbreviation (both spoken and written) for the name of the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit educational association formed to support the [5617]GNU project.
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Node:FTP, Next:[5618]-fu, Previous:[5619]FSF, Up:[5620]= F =
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FTP /F-T-P/, not /fit'ip/
1. [techspeak] n. The File Transfer Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the Internet. 2. vt. To [5621]beam a file using the File Transfer Protocol. 3. Sometimes used as a generic even for file transfers not using [5622]FTP. "Lemme get a copy of "Wuthering Heights" ftp'd from uunet."
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Node:-fu, Next:[5623]FUBAR, Previous:[5624]FTP, Up:[5625]= F =
-fu
[common; generalized from `kung-fu'] Combining form denoting expert practice of a skill. "That's going to take some serious code-fu." First sighted in connection with the GIMP's remote-scripting facility, script-fu, in 1998.
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Node:FUBAR, Next:[5626]fuck me harder, Previous:[5627]-fu, Up:[5628]= F =
FUBAR n.
The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the [5629]suits; see [5630]foobar, and [5631]foo for a fuller etymology.
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Node:fuck me harder, Next:[5632]FUD, Previous:[5633]FUBAR, Up:[5634]= F =
fuck me harder excl.
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Sometimes uttered in response to egregious misbehavior, esp. in software, and esp. of misbehaviors which seem unfairly persistent (as though designed in by the imp of the perverse). Often theatrically elaborated: "Aiighhh! Fuck me with a piledriver and 16 feet of curare-tipped wrought-iron fence and no lubricants!" The phrase is sometimes heard abbreviated `FMH' in polite company.
[This entry is an extreme example of the hackish habit of coining elaborate and evocative terms for lossage. Here we see a quite self-conscious parody of mainstream expletives that has become a running gag in part of the hacker culture; it illustrates the hackish tendency to turn any situation, even one of extreme frustration, into an intellectual game (the point being, in this case, to creatively produce a long-winded description of the most anatomically absurd mental image possible -- the short forms implicitly allude to all the ridiculous long forms ever spoken). Scatological language is actually relatively uncommon among hackers, and there was some controversy over whether this entry ought to be included at all. As it reflects a live usage recognizably peculiar to the hacker culture, we feel it is in the hackish spirit of truthfulness and opposition to all forms of censorship to record it here. --ESR & GLS]
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Node:FUD, Next:[5635]FUD wars, Previous:[5636]fuck me harder, Up:[5637]= F =
FUD /fuhd/ n.
Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products." The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or software. See [5638]IBM. After 1990 the term
476
FUD was associated increasingly frequently with [5639]Microsoft, and has become generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon.
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Node:FUD wars, Next:[5640]fudge, Previous:[5641]FUD, Up:[5642]= F =
FUD wars /fuhd worz/ n.
[from [5643]FUD] Political posturing engaged in by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to standardization but actually willing to fragment the market to protect their own shares. The Unix International vs. OSF conflict about Unix standards was one outstanding example; Microsoft vs. Netscape vs. W3C about HTML standards is another.
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Node:fudge, Next:[5644]fudge factor, Previous:[5645]FUD wars, Up:[5646]= F =
fudge
1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way, particularly with respect to the writing of a program. "I didn't feel like going through that pain and suffering, so I fudged it -- I'll fix it later." 2. n. The resulting code.
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Node:fudge factor, Next:[5647]fuel up, Previous:[5648]fudge, Up:[5649]= F =
fudge factor n.
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[common] A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result. The terms `tolerance' and [5650]slop are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than necessary because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and it is better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not having enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be tweaked in more than one direction. A good example is the `fuzz' typically allowed in floating-point calculations: two numbers being compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount; if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate, while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate. Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by programmers who don't fully understand their import. See also [5651]coefficient of X.
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Node:fuel up, Next:[5652]Full Monty, Previous:[5653]fudge factor, Up:[5654]= F =
fuel up vi.
To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to hacking. "Food-p?" "Yeah, let's fuel up." "Time for a [5655]great-wall!" See also [5656]oriental food.
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Node:Full Monty, Next:[5657]fum, Previous:[5658]fuel up, Up:[5659]= F
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Full Monty n.
See [5660]monty, sense 2.
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Node:fum, Next:[5661]functino, Previous:[5662]Full Monty, Up:[5663]= F
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fum n.
[XEROX PARC] At PARC, often the third of the standard [5664]metasyntactic variables (after [5665]foo and [5666]bar). Competes with [5667]baz, which is more common outside PARC.
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Node:functino, Next:[5668]funky, Previous:[5669]fum, Up:[5670]= F =
functino n.
[uncommon, U.K.; originally a serendipitous typo in 1994] A pointer to a function in C and C++. By association with sub-atomic particles such as the neutrino, it accurately conveys an impression of smallness (one pointer is four bytes on most systems) and speed (hackers can and do use arrays of functinos to replace a switch() statement).
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Node:funky, Next:[5671]funny money, Previous:[5672]functino, Up:[5673]= F =
funky adj.
Said of something that functions, but in a slightly strange, klugey way. It does the job and would be difficult to change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone. Often used to describe interfaces. The more bugs something has that nobody has bothered to fix because workarounds are easier, the funkier it is. [5674]TECO and UUCP are funky. The Intel i860's exception handling is extraordinarily funky. Most standards acquire funkiness as they age. "The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat funky; if it bounces your mail for no reason, try resubmitting it." "This UART is pretty funky.
479
The data ready line is active-high in interrupt mode and active-low in DMA mode."
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Node:funny money, Next:[5675]furrfu, Previous:[5676]funky, Up:[5677]= F =
funny money n.
1. Notional `dollar' units of computing time and/or storage handed to students at the beginning of a computer course; also called `play money' or `purple money' (in implicit opposition to real or `green' money). In New Zealand and Germany the odd usage `paper money' has been recorded; in Germany, the particularly amusing synonym `transfer ruble' commemmorates the funny money used for trade between COMECON countries back when the Soviet Bloc still existed. When your funny money ran out, your account froze and you needed to go to a professor to get more. Fortunately, the plunging cost of timesharing cycles has made this less common. The amounts allocated were almost invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to slide by with minimum work. In extreme cases, the practice led to small-scale black markets in bootlegged computer accounts. 2. By extension, phantom money or quantity tickets of any kind used as a resource-allocation hack within a system. Antonym: `real money'.
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Node:furrfu, Next:[5678]fuzzball, Previous:[5679]funny money, Up:[5680]= F =
furrfu excl.
[Usenet; written, only rarely spoken] Written-only equivalent of "Sheesh!"; it is, in fact, "sheesh" modified by [5681]rot13. Evolved in mid-1992 as a response to notably silly postings repeating urban myths on the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban, after some posters complained that "Sheesh!"
480
as a response to [5682]newbies was being overused. See also [5683]FOAF.
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Node:fuzzball, Next:[5684]G, Previous:[5685]furrfu, Up:[5686]= F =
fuzzball n.
[TCP/IP hackers] A DEC LSI-11 running a particular suite of homebrewed software written by Dave Mills and assorted co-conspirators, used in the early 1980s for Internet protocol testbedding and experimentation. These were used as NSFnet backbone sites in its early 56kb-line days; a few were still active on the Internet as late as mid-1993, doing odd jobs such as network time service.
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Node:= G =, Next:[5687]= H =, Previous:[5688]= F =, Up:[5689]The Jargon Lexicon
= G =
*[5690]G:
*[5691]g-file:
*[5692]gabriel:
*[5693]gag:
*[5694]gang bang:
*[5695]garbage collect:
* [5696]garply: