The New Hacker's Dictionary
.pdf951
[MIT] A [11896]lose, usually in software. Especially used for user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature. This use has become quite widespread outside MIT.
---
Node:screwage, Next:[11897]scribble, Previous:[11898]screw,
Up:[11899]= S =
screwage /skroo'*j/ n.
Like [11900]lossage but connotes that the failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple inadequacy or a mere bug.
---
Node:scribble, Next:[11901]script kiddies, Previous:[11902]screwage, Up:[11903]= S =
scribble n.
To modify a data structure in a random and unintentionally destructive way. "Bletch! Somebody's disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node table." "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines scribbled on low core." Synonymous with [11904]trash; compare [11905]mung, which conveys a bit more intention, and [11906]mangle, which is more violent and final.
---
Node:script kiddies, Next:[11907]scrog, Previous:[11908]scribble, Up:[11909]= S =
script kiddies pl.n.
952
1. The lowest form of [11910]cracker; script kiddies do mischief with scripts and programs written by others, often without understanding the [11911]exploit. 2. People who cannot program, but who create tacky HTML pages by copying JavaScript routines from other tacky HTML pages. More generally, a script kiddie writes (or more likely cuts and pastes) code without either having or desiring to have a mental model of what the code does; someone who thinks of code as magical incantations and asks only "what do I need to type to make this happen?"
---
Node:scrog, Next:[11912]scrool, Previous:[11913]script kiddies, Up:[11914]= S =
scrog /skrog/ vt.
[Bell Labs] To damage, trash, or corrupt a data structure. "The list header got scrogged." Also reported as `skrog', and ascribed to the comic strip "The Wizard of Id". Compare [11915]scag; possibly the two are related. Equivalent to [11916]scribble or [11917]mangle.
---
Node:scrool, Next:[11918]scrozzle, Previous:[11919]scrog, Up:[11920]= S
=
scrool /skrool/ n.
[from the pioneering Roundtable chat system in Houston ca. 1984; prob. originated as a typo for `scroll'] The log of old messages, available for later perusal or to help one get back in synch with the conversation. It was originally called the `scrool monster', because an early version of the roundtable software had a bug where it would dump all 8K of scrool on a user's terminal.
---
953
Node:scrozzle, Next:[11921]scruffies, Previous:[11922]scrool,
Up:[11923]= S =
scrozzle /skroz'l/ vt.
Used when a self-modifying code segment runs incorrectly and corrupts the running program or vital data. "The damn compiler scrozzled itself again!"
---
Node:scruffies, Next:[11924]SCSI, Previous:[11925]scrozzle, Up:[11926]=
S =
scruffies n.
See [11927]neats vs. scruffies.
---
Node:SCSI, Next:[11928]ScumOS, Previous:[11929]scruffies,
Up:[11930]= S =
SCSI n.
[Small Computer System Interface] A bus-independent standard for system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices. Typically annotated in literature with `sexy' (/sek'see/), `sissy' (/sis'ee/), and `scuzzy' (/skuh'zee/) as pronunciation guides -- the last being the overwhelmingly predominant form, much to the dismay of the designers and their marketing people. One can usually assume that a person who pronounces it /S-C-S-I/ is clueless.
---
Node:ScumOS, Next:[11931]search-and-destroy mode,
Previous:[11932]SCSI, Up:[11933]= S =
954
ScumOS /skuhm'os/ or /skuhm'O-S/ n.
Unflattering hackerism for SunOS, the BSD Unix variant supported on Sun Microsystems's Unix workstations (see also [11934]sun-stools), and compare [11935]AIDX, [11936]Macintrash, [11937]Nominal Semidestructor, [11938]HP-SUX. Despite what this term might suggest, Sun was founded by hackers and still enjoys excellent relations with hackerdom; usage is more often in exasperation than outright loathing.
---
Node:search-and-destroy mode, Next:[11939]second-system effect, Previous:[11940]ScumOS, Up:[11941]= S =
search-and-destroy mode n.
Hackerism for a noninteractive search-and-replace facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen match pattern can cause [11942]infinite damage.
---
Node:second-system effect, Next:[11943]secondary damage, Previous:[11944]search-and-destroy mode, Up:[11945]= S =
second-system effect n.
(sometimes, more euphoniously, `second-system syndrome') When one is designing the successor to a relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design an [11946]elephantine feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used by Fred Brooks in his classic "The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering" (Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN 0-201-00650-2). It described the jump from a set of nice, simple operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see [11947]Brooks's Law, [11948]creeping elegance,
955
[11949]creeping featurism. See also [11950]Multics, [11951]OS/2, [11952]X, [11953]software bloat.
This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with altogether too much truth for comfort) as an example of second-system effect run amok on jargon-1....
---
Node:secondary damage, Next:[11954]security through obscurity, Previous:[11955]second-system effect, Up:[11956]= S =
secondary damage n.
When a fatal error occurs (esp. a [11957]segfault) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous [11958]fandango on core. However, this fandango may have been due to an earlier fandango, so no amount of analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. "The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage."
By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is `Nth-level damage'. There is at least one case on record in which 17 hours of [11959]grovelling with adb actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of seventh-level damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows.
---
Node:security through obscurity, Next:[11960]SED,
Previous:[11961]secondary damage, Up:[11962]= S =
security through obscurity
(alt. `security by obscurity') A term applied by hackers to most OS vendors' favorite way of coping with security holes -- namely, ignoring them, documenting neither any known holes nor the underlying security
956
algorithms, trusting that nobody will find out about them and that people who do find out about them won't exploit them. This "strategy" never works for long and occasionally sets the world up for debacles like the [11963]RTM worm of 1988 (see [11964]Great Worm), but once the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep. After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources needed to implement the next user-interface frill on marketing's wish list -- and besides, if they started fixing security bugs customers might begin to expect it and imagine that their warranties of merchantability gave them some sort of right to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned Swiss cheese, and then where would we be?
Historical note: There are conflicting stories about the origin of this term. It has been claimed that it was first used in the Usenet newsgroup in comp.sys.apollo during a campaign to get HP/Apollo to fix security problems in its Unix-[11965]clone Aegis/DomainOS (they didn't change a thing). [11966]ITS fans, on the other hand, say it was coined years earlier in opposition to the incredibly paranoid [11967]Multics people down the hall, for whom security was everything. In the ITS culture it referred to (1) the fact that by the time a tourist figured out how to make trouble he'd generally gotten over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the community; and (2) (self-mockingly) the poor coverage of the documentation and obscurity of many commands. One instance of deliberate security through obscurity is recorded; the command to allow patching the running ITS system (escape escape control-R) echoed as $$^D. If you actually typed alt alt ^D, that set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if you later got it right.
---
Node:SED, Next:[11968]segfault, Previous:[11969]security through obscurity, Up:[11970]= S =
SED /S-E-D/ n.
957
[TMRC, from `Light-Emitting Diode'] Smoke-emitting diode. A [11971]friode that lost the war. See also [11972]LER.
---
Node:segfault, Next:[11973]seggie, Previous:[11974]SED, Up:[11975]= S
=
segfault n.,vi.
Syn. [11976]segment, [11977]segmentation fault.
---
Node:seggie, Next:[11978]segment, Previous:[11979]segfault,
Up:[11980]= S =
seggie /seg'ee/ n.
[Unix] Shorthand for [11981]segmentation fault reported from Britain.
---
Node:segment, Next:[11982]segmentation fault, Previous:[11983]seggie, Up:[11984]= S =
segment /seg'ment/ vi.
To experience a [11985]segmentation fault. Confusingly, this is often pronounced more like the noun `segment' than like mainstream v. segment; this is because it is actually a noun shorthand that has been verbed.
---
Node:segmentation fault, Next:[11986]segv, Previous:[11987]segment, Up:[11988]= S =
958
segmentation fault n.
[Unix] 1. [techspeak] An error in which a running program attempts to access memory not allocated to it and [11989]core dumps with a segmentation violation error. This is often caused by improper usage of pointers in the source code, dereferencing a null pointer, or (in C) inadvertently using a non-pointer variable as a pointer. The classic example is: int i; scanf ("%d", i); /* should have used &i */
2. To lose a train of thought or a line of reasoning. Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of befuddlement.
---
Node:segv, Next:[11990]self-reference, Previous:[11991]segmentation fault, Up:[11992]= S =
segv /seg'vee/ n.,vi.
Yet another synonym for [11993]segmentation fault (actually, in this case, `segmentation violation').
---
Node:self-reference, Next:[11994]selvage, Previous:[11995]segv,
Up:[11996]= S =
self-reference n.
See [11997]self-reference.
---
Node:selvage, Next:[11998]semi, Previous:[11999]self-reference,
Up:[12000]= S =
959
selvage /sel'v*j/ n.
[from sewing and weaving] See [12001]chad (sense 1).
---
Node:semi, Next:[12002]semi-automated, Previous:[12003]selvage,
Up:[12004]= S =
semi /se'mee/ or /se'mi:/
1. n. Abbreviation for `semicolon', when speaking. "Commands to [12005]grind are prefixed by semi-semi-star" means that the prefix is ;;*, not 1/4 of a star. 2. A prefix used with words such as `immediately' as a qualifier. "When is the system coming up?" "Semi-immediately." (That is, maybe not for an hour.) "We did consider that possibility semi-seriously." See also [12006]infinite.
---
Node:semi-automated, Next:[12007]semi-infinite, Previous:[12008]semi,
Up:[12009]= S =
semi-automated adj.
[US Geological Survey] A procedure that has yet to be completely automated; it still requires a smidge of clueful human interaction. Semi-automated programs usually come with written-out operator instructions that are worth their weight in gold - without them, very nasty things can happen. At USGS semi-automated programs are often referred to as "semi-automated weapons".
---
Node:semi-infinite, Next:[12010]senior bit,
Previous:[12011]semi-automated, Up:[12012]= S =
960
semi-infinite n.
See [12013]infinite.
---
Node:senior bit, Next:[12014]September that never ended, Previous:[12015]semi-infinite, Up:[12016]= S =
senior bit n.
[IBM; rare] Syn. [12017]meta bit.
---
Node:September that never ended, Next:[12018]server,
Previous:[12019]senior bit, Up:[12020]= S =
September that never ended
All time since September 1993. One of the seasonal rhythms of the Usenet used to be the annual September influx of clueless newbies who, lacking any sense of [12021]netiquette, made a general nuisance of themselves. This coincided with people starting college, getting their first internet accounts, and plunging in without bothering to learn what was acceptable. These relatively small drafts of newbies could be assimilated within a few months. But in September 1993, AOL users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming the old-timers' capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically recall the period before hand, this triggered an inexorable decline in the quality of discussions on newsgroups. See also [12022]AOL!.
---
Node:server, Next:[12023]SEX, Previous:[12024]September that never ended, Up:[12025]= S =