= A =
=====

   :abbrev: /*-breev'/, /*-brev'/ n.  Common abbreviation for
`abbreviation'.

   :ABEND: /a'bend/, /*-bend'/ n.  [ABnormal END]    1. Abnormal
termination (of software); {crash}; {lossage}.     Derives from an
error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by    hackers but seriously
mainly by {code grinder}s.  Usually    capitalized, but may appear as
`abend'.  Hackers will try to    persuade you that ABEND is called
`abend' because it is what    system operators do to the machine late
on Friday when they want to    call it a day, and hence is from the
German `Abend' = `Evening'.     2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced
Net Deprivation -    used in the subject lines of postings warning
friends of an    imminent loss of Internet access.  (This can be
because of computer    downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.)
Variants of this    also appear: ABVND = `Absent By Voluntary Net
Deprivation' and    ABSEND = `Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation'
have been    sighted.

   :accumulator: n. obs.  1. Archaic term for a register.  On-line
use of it as a synonym for `register' is a fairly reliable
indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or
that the architecture under discussion is quite old.  The term in
full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example,
though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in `A'
derive from historical use of the term `accumulator' (and not,
actually, from `arithmetic').  Confusingly, though, an `A'    register
name prefix may also stand for `address', as for    example on the
Motorola 680x0 family.  2. A register being used for    arithmetic or
logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop index),    especially one
being used to accumulate a sum or count of many    items.  This use is
in context of a particular routine or stretch    of code.  "The FOOBAZ
routine uses A3 as an accumulator."     3. One's in-basket (esp. among
old-timers who might use sense 1).     "You want this reviewed?  Sure,
just put it in the accumulator."     (See {stack}.)

   :ACK: /ak/ interj.  1. [common; from the ASCII mnemonic    for
0000110] Acknowledge.  Used to register one's presence (compare
mainstream _Yo!_).  An appropriate response to {ping} or    {ENQ}.  2.
[from the comic strip "Bloom County"] An    exclamation of surprised
disgust, esp. in "Ack pffft!"     Semi-humorous.  Generally this sense
is not spelled in caps (ACK)    and is distinguished by a following
exclamation point.  3. Used to    politely interrupt someone to tell
them you understand their point    (see {NAK}).  Thus, for example, you
might cut off an overly    long explanation with "Ack.  Ack.  Ack.  I
get it now".

   There is also a usage "ACK?" (from sense 1) meaning "Are you
there?", often used in email when earlier mail has produced no
reply, or during a lull in {talk mode} to see if the person has    gone
away (the standard humorous response is of course {NAK}    (sense 2),
i.e., "I'm not here").

   :Acme: n.  The canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate,    and
non-functional gadgetry - where Rube Goldberg and Heath    Robinson
(two cartoonists who specialized in elaborate    contraptions) shop.
The name has been humorously expanded as A    Company Making
Everything.  Describing some X as an "Acme X"    either means "This is
{insanely great}", or, more likely,    "This looks {insanely great} on
paper, but in practice it's    really easy to shoot yourself in the
foot with it."  Compare    {pistol}.

   This term, specially cherished by American hackers and explained
here for the benefit of our overseas brethren, comes from the    Warner
Brothers' series of "Roadrunner" cartoons.  In these    cartoons, the
famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to    catch up with,
trap, and eat the Roadrunner.  His attempts usually    involved one or
more high-technology Rube Goldberg devices -    rocket jetpacks,
catapults, magnetic traps, high-powered    slingshots, etc.  These were
usually delivered in large cardboard    boxes, labeled prominently with
the Acme name.  These devices    invariably malfunctioned in improbable
and violent ways.

   :acolyte: n. obs.  [TMRC] An {OSU} privileged enough to    submit
data and programs to a member of the {priesthood}.

   :ad-hockery: /ad-hok'*r-ee/ n.  [Purdue] 1. Gratuitous
assumptions made inside certain programs, esp. expert systems,    which
lead to the appearance of semi-intelligent behavior but are    in fact
entirely arbitrary.  For example, fuzzy-matching of    input tokens
that might be typing errors against a symbol table can    make it look
as though a program knows how to spell.     2. Special-case code to
cope with some awkward input that would    otherwise cause a program to
{choke}, presuming normal inputs    are dealt with in some cleaner and
more regular way.  Also called    `ad-hackery', `ad-hocity'
(/ad-hos'*-tee/), `ad-crockery'.     See also {ELIZA effect}.

   :Ada:: n.  A {{Pascal}}-descended language that has been made
mandatory for Department of Defense software projects by the
Pentagon.  Hackers are nearly unanimous in observing that,
technically, it is precisely what one might expect given that kind
of endorsement by fiat; designed by committee, crockish, difficult
to use, and overall a disastrous, multi-billion-dollar boondoggle
(one common description is "The PL/I of the 1980s").  Hackers    find
Ada's exception-handling and inter-process communication    features
particularly hilarious.  Ada Lovelace (the daughter of    Lord Byron
who became the world's first programmer while    cooperating with
Charles Babbage on the design of his mechanical    computing engines in
the mid-1800s) would almost certainly blanch    at the use to which her
name has latterly been put; the kindest    thing that has been said
about it is that there is probably a good    small language screaming
to get out from inside its vast,    {elephantine} bulk.

   :address harvester: n.  A robot that searches web pages    and/or
filters netnews traffic looking for valid email addresses.     Some
address harvesters are benign, used only for compiling address
directories.  Most, unfortunately, are run by miscreants compiling
address lists to {spam}.  Address harvesters can be foiled by    a
{teergrube}.

   :adger: /aj'r/ vt.  [UCLA mutant of {nadger}, poss. from    the
middle name of an infamous {tenured graduate student}] To    make a
bonehead move with consequences that could have been    foreseen with
even slight mental effort.  E.g., "He started    removing files and
promptly adgered the whole project".  Compare    {dumbass attack}.

   :admin: /ad-min'/ n.  Short for `administrator'; very    commonly
used in speech or on-line to refer to the systems person    in charge
on a computer.  Common constructions on this include    `sysadmin' and
`site admin' (emphasizing the administrator's    role as a site contact
for email and news) or `newsadmin'    (focusing specifically on news).
Compare {postmaster},    {sysop}, {system mangler}.

   :ADVENT: /ad'vent/ n.  The prototypical computer    adventure game,
first designed by Will Crowther on the {PDP-10}    in the mid-1970s as
an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming,    and expanded into a
puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods at Stanford    in 1976. (Crowther
went on to write the first core software for the    first TCP/IP
router.) Now better known as Adventure, but the    {{TOPS-10}}
operating system permitted only six-letter filenames.     See also
{vadding}, {Zork}, and {Infocom}.

   This game defined the terse, dryly humorous style since expected in
 text adventure games, and popularized several tag lines that have
become fixtures of hacker-speak:  "A huge green fierce snake bars
the way!"  "I see no X here" (for some noun X).  "You are in a    maze
of twisty little passages, all alike."  "You are in a little    maze of
twisty passages, all different."  The `magic words'    {xyzzy} and
{plugh} also derive from this game.

   Crowther, by the way, participated in the exploration of the
Mammoth & Flint Ridge cave system; it actually _has_ a    `Colossal
Cave' and a `Bedquilt' as in the game, and the `Y2' that    also turns
up is cavers' jargon for a map reference to a secondary    entrance.

   ADVENT sources are available for FTP at
`ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/doc/misc/if-archive/games/source/advent.tar.Z'.

   :AFAIK: // n.  [Usenet] Abbrev. for "As Far As I Know".

   :AFJ: // n.  Written-only abbreviation for "April Fool's    Joke".
Elaborate April Fool's hoaxes are a long-established    tradition on
Usenet and Internet; see {kremvax} for an example.     In fact, April
Fool's Day is the _only_ seasonal holiday    consistently marked by
customary observances on Internet and other    hacker networks.

   :AI: /A-I/ n.  Abbreviation for `Artificial Intelligence',    so
common that the full form is almost never written or spoken    among
hackers.

   :AI-complete: /A-I k*m-pleet'/ adj.  [MIT, Stanford: by    analogy
with `NP-complete' (see {NP-})] Used to describe    problems or
subproblems in AI, to indicate that the solution    presupposes a
solution to the `strong AI problem' (that is, the    synthesis of a
human-level intelligence).  A problem that is    AI-complete is, in
other words, just too hard.

   Examples of AI-complete problems are `The Vision Problem'
(building a system that can see as well as a human) and `The    Natural
Language Problem' (building a system that can understand    and speak a
natural language as well as a human).  These may appear    to be
modular, but all attempts so far (1999) to solve them have    foundered
on the amount of context information and `intelligence'    they seem to
require. See also {gedanken}.

   :AI koans: /A-I koh'anz/ pl.n.  A series of pastiches of Zen
teaching riddles created by Danny Hillis at the MIT AI Lab around
various major figures of the Lab's culture (several are included
under {AI Koans} in Appendix A).  See also {ha ha    only serious},
{mu}, and {{hacker humor}}.

   :AIDS: /aydz/ n.  Short for A* Infected Disk Syndrome (`A*'    is a
{glob} pattern that matches, but is not limited to, Apple    or Amiga),
this condition is quite often the result of practicing    unsafe {SEX}.
See {virus}, {worm}, {Trojan horse},    {virgin}.

   :AIDX: /ayd'k*z/ n.  Derogatory term for IBM's perverted    version
of Unix, AIX, especially for the AIX 3.? used in the IBM    RS/6000
series (some hackers think it is funnier just to pronounce    "AIX" as
"aches").  A victim of the dreaded "hybridism"    disease, this attempt
to combine the two main currents of the Unix    stream ({BSD} and {USG
Unix}) became a {monstrosity} to    haunt system administrators'
dreams.  For example, if new accounts    are created while many users
are logged on, the load average jumps    quickly over 20 due to silly
implementation of the user databases.     For a quite similar disease,
compare {HP-SUX}.  Also, compare    {Macintrash}, {Nominal
Semidestructor}, {ScumOS},    {sun-stools}.

   :airplane rule: n.  "Complexity increases the possibility of
failure; a twin-engine airplane has twice as many engine problems    as
a single-engine airplane."  By analogy, in both software and
electronics, the rule that simplicity increases robustness.  It is
correspondingly argued that the right way to build reliable systems
is to put all your eggs in one basket, after making sure that    you've
built a really _good_ basket.  See also {KISS    Principle}.

   :Alderson loop: n.  [Intel] A special version of an    {infinite
loop} where there is an exit condition available, but    inaccessible
in the current implementation of the code.  Typically    this is
created while debugging user interface code.  An example    would be
when there is a menu stating, "Select 1-3 or 9 to quit"    and 9 is not
allowed by the function that takes the selection from    the user.

   This term received its name from a programmer who had coded a modal
 message box in MSAccess with no Ok or Cancel buttons, thereby
disabling the entire program whenever the box came up.  The message
box had the proper code for dismissal and even was set up so that
when the non-existent Ok button was pressed the proper code would    be
called.

   :aliasing bug: n.  A class of subtle programming errors that    can
arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp. via    `malloc(3)' or
equivalent.  If several pointers address    (`aliases for') a given
hunk of storage, it may happen that the    storage is freed or
reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias    and then referenced
through another, which may lead to subtle (and    possibly
intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the    allocation
history of the malloc {arena}.  Avoidable by use of    allocation
strategies that never alias allocated core, or by use of
higher-level languages, such as {LISP}, which employ a garbage
collector (see {GC}).  Also called a {stale pointer bug}.     See also
{precedence lossage}, {smash the stack},    {fandango on core}, {memory
leak}, {memory smash},    {overrun screw}, {spam}.

   Historical note: Though this term is nowadays associated with    C
programming, it was already in use in a very similar sense in the
Algol-60 and FORTRAN communities in the 1960s.

   :all-elbows: adj.  [MS-DOS] Of a TSR
(terminate-and-stay-resident) IBM PC program, such as the N    pop-up
calendar and calculator utilities that circulate on {BBS}    systems:
unsociable.  Used to describe a program that rudely steals    the
resources that it needs without considering that other TSRs may    also
be resident.  One particularly common form of rudeness is    lock-up
due to programs fighting over the keyboard interrupt.  See    {rude},
also {mess-dos}.

   :alpha geek: n.  [from animal ethologists' `alpha    male'] The most
technically accomplished or skillful person in some    implied context.
"Ask Larry, he's the alpha geek here."

   :alpha particles: n.  See {bit rot}.

   :alt: /awlt/  1. n. The alt shift key on an IBM PC or    {clone}
keyboard; see {bucky bits}, sense 2 (though typical    PC usage does
not simply set the 0200 bit).  2. n. The `option'    key on a
Macintosh; use of this term usually reveals that the    speaker hacked
PCs before coming to the Mac (see also {feature    key}, which is
sometimes _incorrectly_ called `alt').     3. n.,obs.  [PDP-10; often
capitalized to ALT] Alternate name    for the ASCII ESC character
(ASCII 0011011), after the keycap    labeling on some older terminals;
also `altmode' (/awlt'mohd/).     This character was almost never
pronounced `escape' on an ITS    system, in {TECO}, or under TOPS-10 --
always alt, as in "Type    alt alt to end a TECO command" or "alt-U
onto the system" (for    "log onto the [ITS] system").  This usage
probably arose because    alt is more convenient to say than `escape',
especially when    followed by another alt or a character (or another
alt _and_ a    character, for that matter).  4. The alt hierarchy on
Usenet,    the tree of newsgroups created by users without a formal
vote and    approval procedure.  There is a myth, not entirely
implausible,    that alt is acronymic for "anarchists, lunatics, and
terrorists"; but in fact it is simply short for "alternative".

   :alt bit: /awlt bit/ [from alternate] adj.  See {meta    bit}.

   :Aluminum Book: n.  [MIT] "Common LISP: The Language", by    Guy L.
Steele Jr. (Digital Press, first edition 1984, second    edition 1990).
Note that due to a technical screwup some printings    of the second
edition are actually of a color the author describes    succinctly as
"yucky green".  See also {{book titles}}.

   :ambimouseterous: /am-b*-mows'ter-us/ or /am-b*-mows'trus/    adj.
[modeled on ambidextrous]     Able to use a mouse with either hand.

   :Amiga: n  A series of personal computer models originally    sold
by Commodore, based on 680x0 processors, custom support chips    and an
operating system that combined some of the best features of
Macintosh and Unix with compatibility with neither.

   The Amiga was released just as the personal computing world
standardized on IBM-PC clones. This prevented it from gaining
serious market share, despite the fact that the first Amigas had a
substantial technological lead on the IBM XTs of the time. Instead,
it acquired a small but zealous population of enthusiastic hackers
who dreamt of one day unseating the clones (see {Amiga    Persecution
Complex}).  The traits of this culture are both spoofed    and
illuminated in    The BLAZE Humor Viewer
(http://www-ccsl.cs.umass.edu/~barrett/bm/Viewer_Sections/Main.HTML).
The strength of the Amiga platform seeded a    small industry of
companies building software and hardware for the    platform,
especially in graphics and video applications (see    {video toaster}).

   Due to spectacular mismanagement, Commodore did hardly any R&D,
allowing the competition to close Amiga's technological lead.     After
Commodore went bankrupt in 1994 the technology passed through
several hands, none of whom did much with it.  However, the Amiga    is
still being produced in Europe under license and has a    substantial
number of fans, which will probably extend the    platform's life
considerably.

   :Amiga Persecution Complex: n.  The disorder suffered by a
particularly egregious variety of {bigot}, those who believe    that
the marginality of their preferred machine is the result of    some
kind of industry-wide conspiracy (for without a conspiracy of    some
kind, the eminent superiority of their beloved shining jewel    of a
platform would obviously win over all, market pressures be    damned!)
Those afflicted are prone to engaging in {flame war}s    and calling
for boycotts and mailbombings.  Amiga Persecution    Complex is by no
means limited to Amiga users; NeXT, {NeWS},    {OS/2}, Macintosh,
{LISP}, and {GNU} users are also common    victims. {Linux} users used
to display symptoms very frequently    before Linux started winning;
some still do.  See also {newbie},    {troll}, {holy wars}, {weenie},
{Get a life!}.

   :amoeba: n.  Humorous term for the Commodore Amiga personal
computer.

   :amp off: vt.  [Purdue] To run in {background}.  From the    Unix
shell `&' operator.

   :amper: n.  Common abbreviation for the name of the ampersand
(`&', ASCII 0100110) character.  See {{ASCII}} for other synonyms.

   :angle brackets: n.  Either of the characters `<' (ASCII    0111100)
and `>' (ASCII 0111110) (ASCII less-than or    greater-than signs).
Typographers in the {Real World} use angle    brackets which are either
taller and slimmer (the ISO `Bra' and    `Ket' characters), or
significantly smaller (single or double    guillemets) than the
less-than and greater-than signs.     See {broket}, {{ASCII}}.

   :angry fruit salad: n.  A bad visual-interface design that    uses
too many colors.  (This term derives, of course, from the    bizarre
day-glo colors found in canned fruit salad.)  Too often one    sees
similar effects from interface designers using color window    systems
such as {X}; there is a tendency to create displays that    are flashy
and attention-getting but uncomfortable for long-term    use.

   :annoybot: /*-noy-bot/ n.  [IRC] See {robot}.

   :annoyware: n.  A type of {shareware} that frequently    disrupts
normal program operation to display requests for payment    to the
author in return for the ability to disable the request    messages.
(Also called `nagware') The requests generally require    user action
to acknowledge the message before normal operation is    resumed and
are often tied to the most frequently used features of    the software.
See also {careware}, {charityware},    {crippleware}, {freeware},
{FRS}, {guiltware},    {postcardware}, and {-ware}; compare {payware}.

   :ANSI: /an'see/  1. n. [techspeak] The American National
Standards Institute. ANSI, along with the International Organization
for Standards (ISO), standardized the C programming language (see
{K&R}, {Classic C}), and promulgates many other important    software
standards.  2. n. [techspeak] A terminal may be said to be    `ANSI' if
it meets the ANSI X.364 standard for terminal control.
Unfortunately, this standard was both over-complicated and too
permissive.  It has been retired and replaced by the ECMA-48
standard, which shares both flaws.  3. n. [BBS jargon] The set of
screen-painting codes that most MS-DOS and Amiga computers accept.
This comes from the ANSI.SYS device driver that must be loaded on    an
MS-DOS computer to view such codes.  Unfortunately, neither DOS    ANSI
nor the BBS ANSIs derived from it exactly match the ANSI X.364
terminal standard.  For example, the ESC-[1m code turns on the bold
highlight on large machines, but in IBM PC/MS-DOS ANSI, it turns on
`intense' (bright) colors.  Also, in BBS-land, the term `ANSI' is
often used to imply that a particular computer uses or can emulate
the IBM high-half character set from MS-DOS.  Particular use    depends
on context. Occasionally, the vanilla ASCII character set    is used
with the color codes, but on BBSs, ANSI and `IBM    characters' tend to
go together.

   :ANSI standard pizza: /an'see stan'd*rd peet'z*/  [CMU]    Pepperoni
and mushroom pizza.  Coined allegedly because most pizzas    ordered by
CMU hackers during some period leading up to mid-1990    were of that
flavor.  See also {rotary debugger}; compare    {ISO standard cup of
tea}.

   :AOL!: n.  [Usenet] Common synonym for "Me, too!"     alluding to
the legendary propensity of America Online users to    utter
contentless "Me, too!" postings.  The number of exclamation    points
following varies from zero to five or so.  The pseudo-HTML

        <AOL>Me, too!</AOL>

is also frequently seen. See also {September that never ended}.

   :app: /ap/ n.  Short for `application program', as opposed    to a
systems program.  Apps are what systems vendors are forever    chasing
developers to create for their environments so they can    sell more
boxes.  Hackers tend not to think of the things they    themselves run
as apps; thus, in hacker parlance the term excludes    compilers,
program editors, games, and messaging systems, though a    user would
consider all those to be apps.  (Broadly, an app is    often a
self-contained environment for performing some well-defined    task
such as `word processing'; hackers tend to prefer more
general-purpose tools.) See {killer app}; oppose {tool},    {operating
system}.

   :arena: [common; Unix] n.  The area of memory attached to a
process by `brk(2)' and `sbrk(2)' and used by    `malloc(3)' as dynamic
storage.  So named from a `malloc:    corrupt arena' message emitted
when some early versions detected an    impossible value in the free
block list.  See {overrun screw},    {aliasing bug}, {memory leak},
{memory smash}, {smash    the stack}.

   :arg: /arg/ n.  Abbreviation for `argument' (to a    function), used
so often as to have become a new word (like    `piano' from
`pianoforte').  "The sine function takes 1 arg,    but the arc-tangent
function can take either 1 or 2 args."     Compare {param}, {parm},
{var}.

   :ARMM: n.  [acronym, `Automated Retroactive Minimal    Moderation']
A Usenet {cancelbot} created by Dick Depew of Munroe Falls,    Ohio.
ARMM was intended to automatically cancel posts from
anonymous-posting sites.  Unfortunately, the robot's recognizer for
anonymous postings triggered on its own automatically-generated
control messages!  Transformed by this stroke of programming
ineptitude into a monster of Frankensteinian proportions, it broke
loose on the night of March 31, 1993 and proceeded to {spam}
news.admin.policy with a recursive explosion of over 200    messages.

   ARMM's bug produced a recursive {cascade} of messages each of which
 mechanically added text to the ID and Subject and some other
headers of its parent.  This produced a flood of messages in which
each header took up several screens and each message ID and subject
line got longer and longer and longer.

   Reactions varied from amusement to outrage.  The pathological
messages crashed at least one mail system, and upset people paying
line charges for their Usenet feeds.  One poster described the ARMM
debacle as "instant Usenet history" (also establishing the term
{despew}), and it has since been widely cited as a cautionary
example of the havoc the combination of good intentions and
incompetence can wreak on a network.  Compare {Great Worm};
{sorcerer's apprentice mode}.  See also {software laser},    {network
meltdown}.

   :armor-plated: n.  Syn. for {bulletproof}.

   :asbestos: adj.  [common] Used as a modifier to anything    intended
to protect one from {flame}s; also in other highly
{flame}-suggestive usages.  See, for example, {asbestos    longjohns}
and {asbestos cork award}.

   :asbestos cork award: n.  Once, long ago at MIT, there was a
{flamer} so consistently obnoxious that another hacker designed,    had
made, and distributed posters announcing that said flamer had    been
nominated for the `asbestos cork award'.  (Any reader in    doubt as to
the intended application of the cork should consult the    etymology
under {flame}.)  Since then, it is agreed that only a    select few
have risen to the heights of bombast required to earn    this dubious
dignity -- but there is no agreement on _which_    few.

   :asbestos longjohns: n.  Notional garments donned by    {Usenet}
posters just before emitting a remark they expect will    elicit
{flamage}.  This is the most common of the {asbestos}    coinages.
Also `asbestos underwear', `asbestos overcoat', etc.

   :ASCII:: /as'kee/ n.  [acronym: American Standard Code for
Information Interchange] The predominant character set encoding of
present-day computers.  The modern version uses 7 bits for each
character, whereas most earlier codes (including an early version    of
ASCII) used fewer.  This change allowed the inclusion of    lowercase
letters -- a major {win} -- but it did not provide    for accented
letters or any other letterforms not used in English    (such as the
German sharp-S    or the ae-ligature    which is a letter in, for
example, Norwegian).  It could be worse,    though.  It could be much
worse.  See {{EBCDIC}} to understand how.

   Computers are much pickier and less flexible about spelling than
humans; thus, hackers need to be very precise when talking about
characters, and have developed a considerable amount of verbal
shorthand for them.  Every character has one or more names -- some
formal, some concise, some silly.  Common jargon names for ASCII
characters are collected here.  See also individual entries for
{bang}, {excl}, {open}, {ques}, {semi}, {shriek},    {splat},
{twiddle}, and {Yu-Shiang Whole Fish}.

   This list derives from revision 2.3 of the Usenet ASCII
pronunciation guide.  Single characters are listed in ASCII order;
character pairs are sorted in by first member.  For each character,
common names are given in rough order of popularity, followed by
names that are reported but rarely seen; official ANSI/CCITT names
are surrounded by brokets: <>.  Square brackets mark the
particularly silly names introduced by {INTERCAL}.  The
abbreviations "l/r" and "o/c" stand for left/right and    "open/close"
respectively.  Ordinary parentheticals provide some    usage
information.

!
     Common: {bang}; pling; excl; shriek; <exclamation mark>.  Rare:
     factorial; exclam; smash; cuss; boing; yell; wow; hey; wham;
     eureka; [spark-spot]; soldier, control.

"
     Common: double quote; quote.  Rare: literal mark; double-glitch;
     <quotation marks>; <dieresis>; dirk; [rabbit-ears]; double prime.

#
     Common: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp; {crunch}; hex;
     [mesh].  Rare: grid; crosshatch; octothorpe; flash; <square>,
     pig-pen; tictactoe; scratchmark; thud; thump; {splat}.

$
     Common: dollar; <dollar sign>.  Rare: currency symbol; buck; cash;
     string (from BASIC); escape (when used as the echo of ASCII ESC);
     ding; cache; [big money].

%
     Common: percent; <percent sign>; mod; grapes.  Rare:
     [double-oh-seven].

&
     Common: <ampersand>; amper; and.  Rare: address (from C); reference
     (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from `sh(1)');
     pretzel; amp.  [INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be
     sillier?]

'
     Common: single quote; quote; <apostrophe>.  Rare: prime; glitch;
     tick; irk; pop; [spark]; <closing single quotation mark>; <acute
     accent>.

( )
     Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; left/right; open/close;
     paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r parenthesis; l/r
     banana.  Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; <opening/closing
     parenthesis>; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane];
     parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear.

*
     Common: star; [{splat}]; <asterisk>.  Rare: wildcard; gear; dingle;
     mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; glob (see {glob}); {Nathan
     Hale}.

+
     Common: <plus>; add.  Rare: cross; [intersection].

,
     Common: <comma>.  Rare: <cedilla>; [tail].

-
     Common: dash; <hyphen>; <minus>.  Rare: [worm]; option; dak;
     bithorpe.

.
     Common: dot; point; <period>; <decimal point>.  Rare: radix point;
     full stop; [spot].

/
     Common: slash; stroke; <slant>; forward slash.  Rare: diagonal;
     solidus; over; slak; virgule; [slat].

:
     Common: <colon>.  Rare: dots; [two-spot].

;
     Common: <semicolon>; semi.  Rare: weenie; [hybrid], pit-thwong.

< >
     Common: <less/greater than>; bra/ket; l/r angle; l/r angle
     bracket; l/r broket.  Rare: from/{into, towards}; read from/write
     to; suck/blow; comes-from/gozinta; in/out; crunch/zap (all from
     UNIX); [angle/right angle].

=
     Common: <equals>; gets; takes.  Rare: quadrathorpe; [half-mesh].

?
     Common: query; <question mark>; {ques}.  Rare: whatmark; [what];
     wildchar; huh; hook; buttonhook; hunchback.

@
     Common: at sign; at; strudel.  Rare: each; vortex; whorl;
     [whirlpool]; cyclone; snail; ape; cat; rose; cabbage; <commercial
     at>.

V
     Rare: [book].

[ ]
     Common: l/r square bracket; l/r bracket; <opening/closing
     bracket>; bracket/unbracket.  Rare: square/unsquare; [U turn/U
     turn back].

\
     Common: backslash, hack, whack; escape (from C/UNIX); reverse
     slash; slosh; backslant; backwhack.  Rare: bash; <reverse slant>;
     reversed virgule; [backslat].

^
     Common: hat; control; uparrow; caret; <circumflex>.  Rare: chevron;
     [shark (or shark-fin)]; to the (`to the power of'); fang; pointer
     (in Pascal).

_
     Common: <underline>; underscore; underbar; under.  Rare: score;
     backarrow; skid; [flatworm].

`
     Common: backquote; left quote; left single quote; open quote;
     <grave accent>; grave.  Rare: backprime; [backspark];
     unapostrophe; birk; blugle; back tick; back glitch; push; <opening
     single quotation mark>; quasiquote.

{ }
     Common: o/c brace; l/r brace; l/r squiggly; l/r squiggly
     bracket/brace; l/r curly bracket/brace; <opening/closing brace>.
     Rare: brace/unbrace; curly/uncurly; leftit/rytit; l/r squirrelly;
     [embrace/bracelet].

|
     Common: bar; or; or-bar; v-bar; pipe; vertical bar.  Rare:
     <vertical line>; gozinta; thru; pipesinta (last three from UNIX);
     [spike].

~
     Common: <tilde>; squiggle; {twiddle}; not.  Rare: approx; wiggle;
     swung dash; enyay; [sqiggle (sic)].

The pronunciation of `#' as `pound' is common in the U.S.     but a bad
idea; {{Commonwealth Hackish}} has its own, rather more    apposite use
of `pound sign' (confusingly, on British keyboards    the pound graphic
  happens to replace `#'; thus Britishers sometimes call    `#' on a
U.S.-ASCII keyboard `pound', compounding the    American error).  The
U.S. usage derives from an old-fashioned    commercial practice of
using a `#' suffix to tag pound weights    on bills of lading.  The
character is usually pronounced `hash'    outside the U.S.  There are
more culture wars over the correct    pronunciation of this character
than any other, which has led to    the {ha ha only serious} suggestion
that it be pronounced    `shibboleth' (see Judges 12.6 in an Old
Testament or    Torah).

   The `uparrow' name for circumflex and `leftarrow' name for
underline are historical relics from archaic ASCII (the 1963
version), which had these graphics in those character positions
rather than the modern punctuation characters.

   The `swung dash' or `approximation' sign is not quite the same    as
tilde in typeset material    but the ASCII tilde serves for both
(compare {angle    brackets}).

   Some other common usages cause odd overlaps.  The `#',    `$', `>',
and `&' characters, for example, are all    pronounced "hex" in
different communities because various    assemblers use them as a
prefix tag for hexadecimal constants (in    particular, `#' in many
assembler-programming cultures,    `$' in the 6502 world, `>' at Texas
Instruments, and    `&' on the BBC Micro, Sinclair, and some Z80
machines).  See    also {splat}.

   The inability of ASCII text to correctly represent any of the
world's other major languages makes the designers' choice of 7 bits
look more and more like a serious {misfeature} as the use of
international networks continues to increase (see {software    rot}).
Hardware and software from the U.S. still tends to embody    the
assumption that ASCII is the universal character set and that
characters have 7 bits; this is a major irritant to people who    want
to use a character set suited to their own languages.     Perversely,
though, efforts to solve this problem by proliferating    `national'
character sets produce an evolutionary pressure to use    a _smaller_
subset common to all those in use.

   :ASCII art: n.  The fine art of drawing diagrams using the    ASCII
character set (mainly `|', `-', `/', `\',    and `+').  Also known as
`character graphics' or `ASCII    graphics'; see also {boxology}.  Here
is a serious    example:

         o----)||(--+--|<----+   +---------o + D O
           L  )||(  |        |   |             C U
         A I  )||(  +-->|-+  |   +-\/\/-+--o -   T
         C N  )||(        |  |   |      |        P
           E  )||(  +-->|-+--)---+--|(--+-o      U
              )||(  |        |          | GND    T
         o----)||(--+--|<----+----------+

         A power supply consisting of a full wave rectifier circuit
         feeding a capacitor input filter circuit

And here are some very silly examples:

       |\/\/\/|     ____/|              ___    |\_/|    ___
       |      |     \ o.O|   ACK!      /   \_  |` '|  _/   \
       |      |      =(_)=  THPHTH!   /      \/     \/      \
       | (o)(o)        U             /                       \
       C      _)  (__)                \/\/\/\  _____  /\/\/\/
       | ,___|    (oo)                       \/     \/
       |   /       \/-------\         U                  (__)
      /____\        ||     | \    /---V  `v'-            oo )
     /      \       ||---W||  *  * |--|   || |`.         |_/\

                    //-o-\\
             ____---=======---____
         ====___\   /.. ..\   /___====      Klingons rule OK!
       //        ---\__O__/---        \\
       \_\                           /_/

There is an important subgenre of ASCII art that puns on the
standard character names in the fashion of a rebus.

     +--------------------------------------------------------+
     |      ^^^^^^^^^^^^                                      |
     | ^^^^^^^^^^^            ^^^^^^^^^                       |
     |                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
     |        ^^^^^^^         B       ^^^^^^^^^               |
     |  ^^^^^^^^^          ^^^            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^      |
     +--------------------------------------------------------+
                  " A Bee in the Carrot Patch "

Within humorous ASCII art, there is for some reason an entire
flourishing subgenre of pictures of silly cows.  Four of these are
reproduced in the silly examples above, here are three more:

              (__)              (__)              (__)
              (\/)              ($$)              (**)
       /-------\/        /-------\/        /-------\/
      / | 666 ||        / |=====||        / |     ||
     *  ||----||       *  ||----||       *  ||----||
        ~~    ~~          ~~    ~~          ~~    ~~
     Satanic cow    This cow is a Yuppie   Cow in love

   Finally, here's a magnificent example of ASCII art depicting an
Edwardian train station in Dunedin, New Zealand:

                                       .-.
                                      /___\
                                      |___|
                                      |]_[|
                                      / I \
                                   JL/  |  \JL
        .-.                    i   ()   |   ()   i                    .-.
        |_|     .^.           /_\  LJ=======LJ  /_\           .^.     |_|
     ._/___\._./___\_._._._._.L_J_/.-.     .-.\_L_J._._._._._/___\._./___\._._._
            ., |-,-| .,       L_J  |_| [I] |_|  L_J       ., |-,-| .,        .,
            JL |-O-| JL       L_J%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%L_J       JL |-O-| JL        JL
     IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII|_|=======H=======|_|IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII_HH_
     -------[]-------[]-------[_]----\.=I=./----[_]-------[]-------[]--------[]-
      _/\_  ||\\_I_//||  _/\_ [_] []_/_L_J_\_[] [_] _/\_  ||\\_I_//||  _/\_  ||\
      |__|  ||=/_|_\=||  |__|_|_|   _L_L_J_J_   |_|_|__|  ||=/_|_\=||  |__|  ||-
      |__|  |||__|__|||  |__[___]__--__===__--__[___]__|  |||__|__|||  |__|  |||
     IIIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIL___J__II__|_|__II__L___JIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIIII[_]
      \_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_[_]\II/[]\_\I/_/[]\II/[_]\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_/ [_]
     ./   \.L_J/   \L_J./   L_JI  I[]/     \[]I  IL_J    \.L_J/   \L_J./   \.L_J
     |     |L_J|   |L_J|    L_J|  |[]|     |[]|  |L_J     |L_J|   |L_J|     |L_J
     |_____JL_JL___JL_JL____|-||  |[]|     |[]|  ||-|_____JL_JL___JL_JL_____JL_J

There is a newsgroup, rec.arts.ascii, devoted to this    genre;
however, see also {warlording}.

   :ASCIIbetical order: /as'kee-be'-t*-kl or'dr/ adj.,n.     Used to
indicate that data is sorted in ASCII collated order rather    than
alphabetical order.  This lexicon is sorted in something close    to
ASCIIbetical order, but with case ignored and entries beginning    with
non-alphabetic characters moved to the end.  "At my video    store,
they used their computer to sort the videos into    ASCIIbetical order,
so I couldn't find `"Crocodile" Dundee' until I    thought to look
before `2001' and `48 HRS.'!"

   :astroturfing: n.  The use of paid shills to create the
impression of a popular movement, through means like letters to
newspapers from soi-disant `concerned citizens', paid opinion
pieces, and the formation of grass-roots lobbying groups that are
actually funded by a PR group (astroturf is fake grass; hence the
term).  This term became common among hackers after it came to    light
in early 1998 that Microsoft had attempted to use such    tactics to
forestall the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust    action against
the company.

   This backfired horribly, angering a number of state
attorneys-general enough to induce them to go public with plans to
join the Federal suit.  It also set anybody defending Microsoft on
the net for the accusation "You're just astroturfing!".

   :atomic: adj.  [from Gk. `atomos', indivisible]    1. Indivisible;
cannot be split up.  For example, an instruction    may be said to do
several things `atomically', i.e., all the    things are done
immediately, and there is no chance of the    instruction being
half-completed or of another being interspersed.     Used esp. to
convey that an operation cannot be screwed up by    interrupts.  "This
routine locks the file and increments the    file's semaphore
atomically."  2. [primarily techspeak] Guaranteed    to complete
successfully or not at all, usu. refers to database    transactions.
If an error prevents a partially-performed    transaction from
proceeding to completion, it must be "backed out,"    as the database
must not be left in an inconsistent state.

   Computer usage, in either of the above senses, has none of the
connotations that `atomic' has in mainstream English (i.e.  of
particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.).

   :attoparsec: n.  About an inch.  `atto-' is the standard SI
prefix for multiplication by 10^(-18).  A parsec    (parallax-second)
is 3.26 light-years; an attoparsec is thus    3.26 * 10^(-18) light
years, or about 3.1 cm (thus, 1    attoparsec/{microfortnight} equals
about 1 inch/sec).  This unit    is reported to be in use (though
probably not very seriously) among    hackers in the U.K.  See
{micro-}.

   :AUP: /A-U-P/  Abbreviation, "Acceptable Use Policy".  The    policy
of a given ISP which sets out what the ISP considers to be
(un)acceptable uses of its Internet resources.

   :autobogotiphobia: /aw'toh-boh-got`*-foh'bee-*/  n. See
{bogotify}.

   :automagically: /aw-toh-maj'i-klee/ adv.  Automatically, but    in a
way that, for some reason (typically because it is too    complicated,
or too ugly, or perhaps even too trivial), the speaker    doesn't feel
like explaining to you.  See {magic}.  "The    C-INTERCAL compiler
generates C, then automagically invokes    `cc(1)' to produce an
executable."

   This term is quite old, going back at least to the mid-70s in
jargon and probably much earlier.  The word `automagic' occurred in
advertising (for a shirt-ironing gadget) as far back as the late
1940s.

   :avatar: n. Syn.  [in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of    a god]
1. Among people working on virtual reality and    {cyberspace}
interfaces, an "avatar" is an icon or    representation of a user in a
shared virtual reality.  The term is    sometimes used on {MUD}s.  2.
[CMU, Tektronix] {root},    {superuser}.  There are quite a few Unix
machines on which the    name of the superuser account is `avatar'
rather than `root'.     This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who
found the terms    `root' and  `superuser' unimaginative, and thought
`avatar'    might better impress people with the responsibility they
were    accepting.

   :awk: /awk/  1. n. [Unix techspeak] An interpreted language    for
massaging text data developed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger,    and
Brian Kernighan (the name derives from their initials).  It is
characterized by C-like syntax, a declaration-free approach to
variable typing and declarations, associative arrays, and
field-oriented text processing.  See also {Perl}.  2. n.     Editing
term for an expression awkward to manipulate through normal    {regexp}
facilities (for example, one containing a    {newline}).  3. vt. To
process data using `awk(1)'.

