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Node:abbrev, Next:ABEND, Previous:@-party, Up:=
A =
abbrev /*-breev'/, /*-brev'/ n.
Common abbreviation for `abbreviation'.
Node:ABEND, Next:accumulator, Previous:abbrev, Up:= A
=
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 grinders. 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.
Node:accumulator, Next:ACK, Previous:ABEND, Up:= A
=
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.)