beep n.,v.
Syn. feep. This term is techspeak
under MS-DOS and OS/2, and seems to be generally preferred among
micro hobbyists.
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Befunge n.
A worthy companion to INTERCAL;
a computer language family which escapes the quotidian limitation
of linear control flow and embraces program counters flying
through multiple dimensions with exotic topologies. Sadly, the
Befunge home page has vanished, but a Befunge version of the
hello world program is at http://www.catseye.mb.ca/esoteric/befunge.html.
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beige toaster n.
A Macintosh. See toaster;
compare Macintrash, maggotbox.
Node:bells and whistles,
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whistles and gongs, Previous:beige toaster, Up:= B =
bells and whistles n.
[common] Features added to a program or system to make it more
flavorful from a hacker's point
of view, without necessarily adding to its utility for its
primary function. Distinguished from chrome, which is intended to attract users.
"Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go back and
add some bells and whistles." No one seems to know what
distinguishes a bell from a whistle. The recognized emphatic form
is "bells, whistles, and gongs".
It used to be thought that this term derived from the toyboxes
on theater organs. However, the "and gongs" strongly suggests a
different origin, at sea. Before powered horns, ships routinely
used bells, whistles, and gongs to signal each other over longer
distances than voice can carry.
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gongs, Next:benchmark,
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and whistles, Up:= B =
bells whistles and gongs n.
A standard elaborated form of bells and whistles; typically
said with a pronounced and ironic accent on the `gongs'.
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benchmark n.
[techspeak] An inaccurate measure of computer performance. "In
the computer industry, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn
lies, and benchmarks." Well-known ones include Whetstone,
Dhrystone, Rhealstone (see h), the
Gabriel LISP benchmarks (see gabriel), the SPECmark suite, and LINPACK. See
also machoflops, MIPS, smoke
and mirrors.
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Software, Next:berklix,
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Berkeley Quality Software adj.
(often abbreviated `BQS') Term used in a pejorative sense to
refer to software that was apparently created by rather
spaced-out hackers late at night to solve some unique problem. It
usually has nonexistent, incomplete, or incorrect documentation,
has been tested on at least two examples, and core dumps when
anyone else attempts to use it. This term was frequently applied
to early versions of the dbx(1) debugger. See also
Berzerkeley.
Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berk'lee/,
not /bark'lee/ as in British Received Pronunciation.
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berklix /berk'liks/ n.,adj.
[contraction of `Berkeley Unix'] See BSD. Not used at Berkeley itself. May be more
common among suits attempting to sound
like cognoscenti than among hackers, who usually just say
`BSD'.
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Berzerkeley /b*r-zer'klee/ n.
[from `berserk', via the name of a now-deceased record label;
poss. originated by famed columnist Herb Caen] Humorous
distortion of `Berkeley' used esp. to refer to the practices or
products of the BSD Unix hackers. See
software bloat, Missed'em-five, Berkeley Quality
Software.
Mainstream use of this term in reference to the cultural and
political peculiarities of UC Berkeley as a whole has been
reported from as far back as the 1960s.