text n.
1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a `pure code' portion
shared between multiple instances of a program running in a
multitasking OS. Compare English.
2. Textual material in the mainstream sense; data in ordinary
ASCII or EBCDIC representation (see flat-ASCII). "Those are text files; you can
review them using the editor." These two contradictory senses
confuse hackers, too.
Node:thanks in advance,
Next:That's not a
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thanks in advance
[Usenet] Conventional net.politeness ending a posted request
for information or assistance. Sometimes written `advTHANKSance'
or `aTdHvAaNnKcSe' or abbreviated `TIA'. See net.-, netiquette.
Node:That's not a bug
that's a feature!, Next:the literature, Previous:thanks in advance,
Up:= T =
That's not a bug, that's a feature!
The canonical first parry in a
debate about a purported bug. The complainant, if unconvinced, is
likely to retort that the bug is then at best a misfeature. See also feature.
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the literature n.
Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely
gestured at to answer a question that the speaker believes is
trivial. Thus, one might answer an
annoying question by saying "It's in the literature." Oppose
Knuth, which has no connotation of
triviality.
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X that can be Y is not the true X, Previous:the literature, Up:= T =
the network n.
1. Historicaslly, the union of all the major noncommercial,
academic, and hacker-oriented networks, such as Internet, the
pre-1990 ARPANET, NSFnet, BITNET,
and the virtual UUCP and Usenet
`networks', plus the corporate in-house networks and commercial
time-sharing services (such as CompuServe, GEnie and AOL) that
gateway to them. A site is generally considered `on the network'
if it can be reached through some combination of Internet-style
(@-sign) and UUCP (bang-path) addresses. See Internet, bang
path, Internet
address, network
address. 2. Following the mass-culture discovery of the
Internet in 1994 and subsequent proliferation of cheap TCP/IP
connections, "the network" is increasingly synonymous with the
Internet itself (as it was before the second wave of wide-area
computer networking began around 1980). 3. A fictional conspiracy
of libertarian hacker-subversives and anti-authoritarian
monkeywrenchers described in Robert Anton Wilson's novel
"Schrödinger's Cat", to which many hackers have subsequently
decided they belong (this is an example of ha ha only serious).
In sense 1, `the network' is often abbreviated to `the net'.
"Are you on the net?" is a frequent question when hackers first
meet face to face, and "See you on the net!" is a frequent
goodbye.
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that can be Y is not the true X, Next:theology, Previous:the network, Up:= T =
the X that can be Y is not the true X
Yet another instance of hackerdom's peculiar attraction to
mystical references -- a common humorous way of making exclusive
statements about a class of things. The template is from the "Tao
te Ching": "The Tao which can be spoken of is not the true Tao."
The implication is often that the X is a mystery accessible only
to the enlightened. See the trampoline entry for an example, and
compare has the X
nature.
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theology n.
1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to religious issues. 2. Technical fine
points of an abstruse nature, esp. those where the resolution is
of theoretical interest but is relatively marginal with respect to actual use of a
design or system. Used esp. around software issues with a heavy
AI or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs.
smart-programs dispute in AI.
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theory n.
The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that is
currently being used to inform a behavior. This usage is a
generalization and (deliberate) abuse of the technical meaning.
"What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss?" "What's the theory
on dinner tonight?" ("Chinatown, I guess.") "What's the current
theory on letting lusers on during the day?" "The theory behind
this change is to fix the following well-known
screw...."