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The New Hacker's Dictionary

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server n.

A kind of [12026]daemon that performs a service for the requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on which the server runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with `web servers', `name servers', `domain servers', `news servers', `finger servers', and the like.

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Node:SEX, Next:[12027]sex changer, Previous:[12028]server, Up:[12029]= S =

SEX /seks/

[Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a [12030]Good Thing, but unprotected SEX can propagate a [12031]virus. See also [12032]pubic directory. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a `SEt X register' SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact. The Data General instruction set also had SEX.

[12033]DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the SEX mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of "The Intel 8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there was originally a SEX instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamed CBW and CWD (depending on what was being extended). Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the

962

microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight SEX but has logical-or and logical-and instructions ORL and ANL.

The Motorola 6809, used in the Radio Shack Color Computer and in U.K.'s `Dragon 32' personal computer, actually had an official SEX instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple.

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Node:sex changer, Next:[12034]shambolic link, Previous:[12035]SEX, Up:[12036]= S =

sex changer n.

Syn. [12037]gender mender.

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Node:shambolic link, Next:[12038]shar file, Previous:[12039]sex changer, Up:[12040]= S =

shambolic link /sham-bol'ik link/ n.

A Unix symbolic link, particularly when it confuses you, points to nothing at all, or results in your ending up in some completely unexpected part of the filesystem....

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Node:shar file, Next:[12041]sharchive, Previous:[12042]shambolic link, Up:[12043]= S =

shar file /shar' fi:l/ n.

963

Syn. [12044]sharchive.

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Node:sharchive, Next:[12045]Share and enjoy!, Previous:[12046]shar file, Up:[12047]= S =

sharchive /shar'ki:v/ n.

[Unix and Usenet; from /bin/sh archive] A [12048]flattened representation of a set of one or more files, with the unique property that it can be unflattened (the original files restored) by feeding it through a standard Unix shell; thus, a sharchive can be distributed to anyone running Unix, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are also intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. (The downsides of sharchives are that they are an ideal venue for [12049]Trojan horse attacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of arbitrarily-powerful shell features.) Sharchives are also commonly referred to as `shar files' after the name of the most common program for generating them.

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Node:Share and enjoy!, Next:[12050]shareware,

Previous:[12051]sharchive, Up:[12052]= S =

Share and enjoy! imp.

1. Commonly found at the end of software release announcements and [12053]README files, this phrase indicates allegiance to the hacker ethic of free information sharing (see [12054]hacker ethic, sense 1). 2. The motto of the complaints division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (the ultimate gaggle of incompetent [12055]suits) in Douglas Adams's "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The irony of using this as a cultural recognition

964

signal appeals to hackers.

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Node:shareware, Next:[12056]sharing violation, Previous:[12057]Share and enjoy!, Up:[12058]= S =

shareware /sheir'weir/ n.

A kind of [12059]freeware (sense 1) for which the author requests some payment, usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an announcement made by the software itself. Such payment may or may not buy additional support or functionality. See also [12060]careware, [12061]charityware, [12062]crippleware, [12063]FRS, [12064]guiltware, [12065]postcardware, and [12066]-ware; compare [12067]payware.

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Node:sharing violation, Next:[12068]shebang, Previous:[12069]shareware, Up:[12070]= S =

sharing violation

[From a file error common to several [12071]OSs] A response to receiving information, typically of an excessively personal nature, that you were probably happier not knowing. "You know those little noises that Pat makes in bed..?" "Whoa! Sharing violation!" In contrast to the original file error, which indicated that you were not being given data that you did want.

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Node:shebang, Next:[12072]shelfware, Previous:[12073]sharing violation, Up:[12074]= S =

shebang /sh*-bang/ n.

965

The character sequence "#!" that frequently begins executable shell scripts under Unix. Probably derived from "shell bang" under the influence of American slang "the whole shebang" (everything, the works).

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Node:shelfware, Next:[12075]shell, Previous:[12076]shebang,

Up:[12077]= S =

shelfware /shelf'weir/ n.

Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or in accordance with policy (by a corporation or government agency), but not actually required for any particular use. Therefore, it often ends up on some shelf.

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Node:shell, Next:[12078]shell out, Previous:[12079]shelfware, Up:[12080]= S =

shell [orig. [12081]Multics n.

techspeak, widely propagated via Unix] 1. [techspeak] The command interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program that mediates access to a special resource or [12082]server for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually `a shell around' whatever. This sort of program is also called a `wrapper'. 3. A skeleton program, created by hand or by another program (like, say, a parser generator), which provides the necessary [12083]incantations to set up some task and the control flow to drive it (the term [12084]driver is sometimes used synonymously). The user is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done. This usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix hackers.

966

Historical note: Apparently, the original Multics shell (sense 1) was so called because it was a shell (sense 3); it ran user programs not by starting up separate processes, but by dynamically linking the programs into its own code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like this.

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Node:shell out, Next:[12085]shift left (or right) logical,

Previous:[12086]shell, Up:[12087]= S =

shell out vi.

[Unix] To [12088]spawn an interactive subshell from within a program (e.g., a mailer or editor). "Bang foo runs foo in a subshell, while bang alone shells out."

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Node:shift left (or right) logical, Next:[12089]shim, Previous:[12090]shell out, Up:[12091]= S =

shift left (or right) logical

[from any of various machines' instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of the way. 2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat! You can shift to that empty one to the left (right)." Often used without the `logical', or as `left shift' instead of `shift left'. Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/, from the [12092]PDP-10 instruction set. See [12093]Programmer's Cheer.

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Node:shim, Next:[12094]shitogram, Previous:[12095]shift left (or right) logical, Up:[12096]= S =

967

shim n.

A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, in split I&D (instructions and data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with the C null pointer). See also [12097]loose bytes.

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Node:shitogram, Next:[12098]short card, Previous:[12099]shim, Up:[12100]= S =

shitogram /shit'oh-gram/ n.

A really nasty piece of email. Compare [12101]nastygram, [12102]flame.

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Node:short card, Next:[12103]shotgun debugging,

Previous:[12104]shitogram, Up:[12105]= S =

short card n.

A half-length IBM XT expansion card or adapter that will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives). See also [12106]tall card.

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Node:shotgun debugging, Next:[12107]shovelware, Previous:[12108]short card, Up:[12109]= S =

shotgun debugging n.

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The software equivalent of [12110]Easter egging; the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs.

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Node:shovelware, Next:[12111]showstopper, Previous:[12112]shotgun debugging, Up:[12113]= S =

shovelware /shuh'v*l-weir`/ n.

1. Extra software dumped onto a CD-ROM or tape to fill up the remaining space on the medium after the software distribution it's intended to carry, but not integrated with the distribution. 2. A slipshod compilation of software dumped onto a CD-ROM without much care for organization or even usability.

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Node:showstopper, Next:[12114]shriek, Previous:[12115]shovelware,

Up:[12116]= S =

showstopper n.

A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes an implementation effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to be fixed before development can go on. Opposite in connotation from its original theatrical use, which refers to something stunningly good.

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Node:shriek, Next:[12117]Shub-Internet, Previous:[12118]showstopper,

Up:[12119]= S =

shriek n.

969

See [12120]excl. Occasional CMU usage, also in common use among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists.

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Node:Shub-Internet, Next:[12121]sidecar, Previous:[12122]shriek,

Up:[12123]= S =

Shub-Internet /shuhb' in't*r-net/ n.

[MUD: from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional deity Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat with a Thousand Young] The harsh personification of the Internet: Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Avatar of Line Noise, and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous multi-tendriled entity formed of all the manifold connections of the net. A sect of MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for good connections. To no avail -- its purpose is malign and evil, and is the cause of all network slowdown. Often heard as in "Freela casts a tac nuke at Shub-Internet for slowing her down." (A forged response often follows along the lines of: "Shub-Internet gulps down the tac nuke and burps happily.") Also cursed by users of the Web, [12124]FTP and [12125]TELNET when the system slows down. The dread name of Shub-Internet is seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that repeating it three times will cause the being to wake, deep within its lair beneath the Pentagon. Compare [12126]Random Number God.

[January 1996: It develops that one of the computer administrators in the basement of the Pentagon read this entry and fell over laughing. As a result, you too can now poke Shub-Internet by [12127]pinging shub-internet.ims.disa.mil. See also [12128]kremvax. - ESR]

[April 1999: shub-internet.ims.disa.mil is no more, alas. But Shub-Internet lives o^$#$*^ - ESR]

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970

Node:sidecar, Next:[12129]SIG, Previous:[12130]Shub-Internet,

Up:[12131]= S =

sidecar n.

1. Syn. [12132]slap on the side. Esp. used of add-ons for the late and unlamented IBM PCjr. 2. The IBM PC compatibility box that could be bolted onto the side of an Amiga. Designed and produced by Commodore, it broke all of the company's own design rules. If it worked with any other peripherals, it was by [12133]magic. 3. More generally, any of various devices designed to be connected to the expansion slot on the left side of the Amiga 500 (and later, 600 & 1200), which included a hard drive controller, a hard drive, and additional memory.

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Node:SIG, Next:[12134]sig block, Previous:[12135]sidecar, Up:[12136]= S

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SIG /sig/ n.

(also common as a prefix in combining forms) A Special Interest Group, in one of several technical areas, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery; well-known ones include SIGPLAN (the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages), SIGARCH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Architecture) and SIGGRAPH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics). Hackers, not surprisingly, like to overextend this naming convention to less formal associations like SIGBEER (at ACM conferences) and SIGFOOD (at University of Illinois).

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Node:sig block, Next:[12137]sig quote, Previous:[12138]SIG, Up:[12139]= S =

sig block /sig blok/ n.

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