handle n.
1. [from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a `nom de guerre'
intended to conceal the user's true identity. Network and BBS
handles function as the same sort of simultaneous concealment and
display one finds on Citizen's Band radio, from which the term
was adopted. Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of warez d00dz, crackers, weenies, spods, and
other lower forms of network life; true hackers travel on their
own reputations rather than invented legendry. Compare nick, screen
name. 2. A magic
cookie, often in the form of a numeric index into some
array somewhere, through which you can manipulate an object like
a file or window. The form `file handle' is especially common. 3.
[Mac] A pointer to a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory; the
extra level of indirection allows on-the-fly memory compaction
(to cut down on fragmentation) or aging out of unused resources,
with minimal impact on the (possibly multiple) parts of the
larger program containing references to the allocated memory.
Compare snap (to snap a handle would
defeat its purpose); see also aliasing bug, dangling pointer.
Node:handshaking, Next:handwave, Previous:handle, Up:= H
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handshaking n.
[very common] Hardware or software activity designed to start
or keep two machines or programs in synchronization as they do protocol. Often applied to human
activity; thus, a hacker might watch two people in conversation
nodding their heads to indicate that they have heard each others'
points and say "Oh, they're handshaking!". See also protocol.