= X =
=====

   :X: /X/ n.  1. Used in various speech and writing contexts    (also
in lowercase) in roughly its algebraic sense of `unknown    within a
set defined by context' (compare {N}).  Thus, the    abbreviation 680x0
stands for 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, or 68040,    and 80x86 stands
for 80186, 80286 80386 or 80486 (note that a Unix    hacker might write
these as 680[0-4]0 and 80[1-4]86 or 680?0 and    80?86 respectively;
see {glob}).  2. [after the name of an    earlier window system called
`W'] An over-sized, over-featured,    over-engineered and incredibly
over-complicated window system    developed at MIT and widely used on
Unix systems.

   :XEROX PARC: /zee'roks park'/ n.  The famed Palo Alto    Research
Center.  For more than a decade, from the early 1970s into    the
mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing volume of groundbreaking
hardware and software innovations.  The modern mice, windows, and
icons style of software interface was invented there.  So was the
laser printer and the local-area network; and PARC's series of D
machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the 1980s    by
a decade.  Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without honor in    their
own company, so much so that it became a standard joke to    describe
PARC as a place that specialized in developing brilliant    ideas for
everyone else.

   The stunning shortsightedness and obtusity of XEROX's top-level
{suit}s has been well anatomized in "Fumbling The Future:    How XEROX
Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer" by    Douglas K.
Smith and Robert C. Alexander (William Morrow & Co.,    1988, ISBN
0-688-09511-9).

   :XOFF: /X-of/ n.  Syn. {control-S}.

   :XON: /X-on/ n.  Syn. {control-Q}.

   :xor: /X'or/, /kzor/ conj.  Exclusive or.  `A xor B' means    `A or
B, but not both'.  "I want to get cherry pie xor a banana    split."
This derives from the technical use of the term as a    function on
truth-values that is true if exactly one of its two    arguments is
true.

   :xref: /X'ref/ v.,n.  Hackish standard abbreviation for
`cross-reference'.

   :XXX: /X-X-X/ n.  A marker that attention is needed.     Commonly
used in program comments to indicate areas that are kluged    up or
need to be.  Some hackers liken `XXX' to the notional    heavy-porn
movie rating.  Compare {FIXME}.

   :xyzzy: /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/    adj.
[from the ADVENT game] The {canonical} `magic    word'.  This comes
from {ADVENT}, in which the idea is to    explore an underground cave
with many rooms and to collect the    treasures you find there.  If you
type `xyzzy' at the appropriate    time, you can move instantly between
two otherwise distant points.     If, therefore, you encounter some bit
of {magic}, you might    remark on this quite succinctly by saying
simply "Xyzzy!"     "Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen
if he has    protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the
system will    let you do it anyway."  "Xyzzy!"

   Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op
command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it
would typically respond "Nothing happens", just as {ADVENT}    did if
the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player    had
performed the action that enabled the word.  In more recent    32-bit
versions, by the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much    happens".

   The popular `minesweeper' game under Microsoft Windows has a
cheat mode triggered by the command `xyzzy<enter><right-shift>'    that
turns the top-left pixel of the screen different colors    depending on
whether or not the cursor is over a bomb.

