= Y =
=====

   :YA-: abbrev.  [Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost
invariably expands to {Yet Another}, following the precedent set    by
Unix `yacc(1)' (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler).  See    {YABA}.

   :YABA: /ya'b*/ n.  [Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym.
Whenever some program is being named, someone invariably suggests
that it be given a name that is acronymic.  The response from those
with a trace of originality is to remark ironically that the
proposed name would then be `YABA-compatible'.  Also used in
response to questions like "What is WYSIWYG?"  See also    {TLA}.

   :YAFIYGI: /yaf'ee-y*-gee/ adj.  [coined in response to    WYSIWYG]
Describes the command-oriented ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of    word
processing or other user interface, the opposite of    {WYSIWYG}.
Stands for "You asked for it, you got it", because    what you actually
asked for is often not apparent until long after    it is too late to
do anything about it.  Used to denote perversity    ("Real Programmers
use YAFIYGI tools...and _like_ it!")     or, less often, a necessary
tradeoff ("Only a YAFIYGI tool can    have full programmable
flexibility in its interface.").

   This precise sense of "You asked for it, you got it" seems to
have first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody "Real    Programmers
don't use Pascal" (see {Real Programmer}s); the    acronym is a more
recent invention.

   :YAUN: /yawn/ n.  [Acronym for `Yet Another Unix Nerd']    Reported
from the San Diego Computer Society (predominantly a    microcomputer
users' group) as a good-natured punning insult aimed    at Unix zealots.

   :Yellow Book: n.     The print version of this Jargon    File; "The
New Hacker's Dictionary" from MIT Press; The book    includes
essentially all the material the File, plus a Foreword by    Guy L.
Steele Jr. and a Preface by Eric S. Raymond.  Most    importantly, the
book version is nicely typeset and includes almost    all of the
infamous Crunchly cartoons by the Great Quux, each    attached to an
appropriate entry.  The first edition (1991, ISBN    0-262-68069-6)
corresponded to the Jargon File version 2.9.6.  The    second edition
(1993, ISBN 0-262-68079-3) corresponded to the Jargon    File 3.0.0.
The third (1996, ISBN 0-262-68092-0) corresponded    to 4.0.0.

   :yellow card: n.  See {green card}.

   :yellow wire: n.  [IBM] Repair wires used when connectors
(especially ribbon connectors) got broken due to some schlemiel
pinching them, or to reconnect cut traces after the FE mistakenly
cut one.  Compare {blue wire}, {purple wire}, {red wire}.

   :Yet Another: adj.  [From Unix's `yacc(1)', `Yet    Another
Compiler-Compiler', a LALR parser generator] 1. Of your own    work: A
humorous allusion often used in titles to acknowledge that    the topic
is not original, though the content is.  As in `Yet    Another AI
Group' or `Yet Another Simulated Annealing Algorithm'.     2. Of
others' work: Describes something of which there are already    far too
many.  See also {YA-}, {YABA}, {YAUN}.

   :YKYBHTLW: // abbrev.  Abbreviation of `You know you've been
hacking too long when...', which became established on the Usenet
group alt.folklore.computers during extended discussion of the
indicated entry in the Jargon File.

   :YMMV: // cav.  Abbreviation for {Your mileage    may vary} common
on Usenet.

   :You are not expected to understand this: [Unix] cav.  The
canonical comment describing something {magic} or too    complicated to
bother explaining properly.  From an infamous    comment in the
context-switching code of the V6 Unix kernel.

   :You know you've been hacking too long when...:  The    set-up line
for a genre of one-liners told by hackers about    themselves.  These
include the following:

   *    not only do you check your email more often than your paper
     mail, but you remember your {network address} faster than your
     postal one.

   *    your {SO} kisses you on the neck and the first thing you
     think is "Uh, oh, {priority interrupt}."

   *    you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're
     doing it in octal.

   *    your computers have a higher street value than your car.

   *    in your universe, `round numbers' are powers of 2, not 10.

   *    more than once, you have woken up recalling a dream in    some
     programming language.

   *    you realize you have never seen half of your best friends.

[An early version of this entry said "All but one of these    have been
reliably reported as hacker traits (some of them quite    often).  Even
hackers may have trouble spotting the ringer."  The    ringer was
balancing one's checkbook in octal, which I made up out    of whole
cloth.  Although more respondents picked that one    out as fiction
than any of the others, I also received multiple    independent reports
of its actually happening, most famously    to Grace Hopper while she
was working with BINAC in 1949. --ESR]

   :Your mileage may vary: cav.  [from the standard disclaimer
attached to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] 1. A
ritual warning often found in Unix freeware distributions.
Translates roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this portably, but    who
_knows_ what'll happen on your system?"  2. More    generally, a
qualifier attached to advice.  "I find that sending    flowers works
well, but your mileage may vary."

   :Yow!: /yow/ interj.  [from "Zippy the Pinhead" comix] A    favored
hacker expression of humorous surprise or emphasis.  "Yow!     Check
out what happens when you twiddle the foo option on this    display
hack!"  Compare {gurfle}.

   :yoyo mode: n.  The state in which the system is said to be    when
it rapidly alternates several times between being up and being    down.
Interestingly (and perhaps not by coincidence), many    hardware
vendors give out free yoyos at Usenix exhibits.

   Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88.  Tourists
staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were
subsequently treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top
computer scientists testing yo-yo algorithms in the lobby.

   :Yu-Shiang Whole Fish: /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ n. obs.  The
character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 0001001), which with a loop in
its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page.  The term
is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked
whole (not {parse}d) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang)
sauce.  Usage: primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which
could display this character on the screen.  Tends to elicit
incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand.

