blitter /blit'r/ n.
[common] A special-purpose chip or hardware system built to
perform blit operations, esp. used for
fast implementation of bit-mapped graphics. The Commodore Amiga
and a few other micros have these, but since 1990 the trend has
been away from them (however, see cycle of reincarnation).
Syn. raster blaster.
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blivet /bliv'*t/ n.
[allegedly from a World War II military term meaning "ten
pounds of manure in a five-pound bag"] 1. An intractable problem.
2. A crucial piece of hardware that can't be fixed or replaced if
it breaks. 3. A tool that has been hacked over by so many
incompetent programmers that it has become an unmaintainable
tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control but unkillable development
effort. 5. An embarrassing bug that pops up during a customer
demo. 6. In the subjargon of computer security specialists, a
denial-of-service attack performed by hogging limited resources
that have no access controls (for example, shared spool space on
a multi-user system).
This term has other meanings in other technical cultures;
among experimental physicists and hardware engineers of various
kinds it seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose
(similar to hackish use of frob). It
has also been used to describe an amusing trick-the-eye drawing
resembling a three-pronged fork that appears to depict a
three-dimensional object until one realizes that the parts fit
together in an impossible way.
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bloatware n.
[common] Software that provides minimal functionality while
requiring a disproportionate amount of diskspace and memory.
Especially used for application and OS upgrades. This term is
very common in the Windows/NT world. So is its cause.