zbeba n.
[USENET] The word `moron' in rot13. Used to describe newbies who are behaving
with especial cluelessness.
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zen vt.
To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of
enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally
applied to problems of life in general. "How'd you figure out the
buffer allocation problem?" "Oh, I zenned it." Contrast grok, which connotes a time-extended version
of zenning a system. Compare hack
mode. See also guru.
Node:zero, Next:zero-content, Previous:zen, Up:= Z
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zero vt.
1. To set to 0. Usually said of small pieces of data, such as
bits or words (esp. in the construction `zero out'). 2. To erase;
to discard all data from. Said of disks and directories, where
`zeroing' need not involve actually writing zeroes throughout the
area being zeroed. One may speak of something being `logically
zeroed' rather than being `physically zeroed'. See scribble.
Node:zero-content, Next:Zero-One-Infinity Rule,
Previous:zero, Up:= Z =
zero-content adj.
Syn. content-free.
Node:Zero-One-Infinity
Rule, Next:zeroth,
Previous:zero-content,
Up:= Z =
Zero-One-Infinity Rule prov.
"Allow none of foo, one of foo, or any number of foo." A rule of thumb for software design, which
instructs one to not place random
limits on the number of instances of a given entity (such as:
windows in a window system, letters in an OS's filenames, etc.).
Specifically, one should either disallow the entity entirely,
allow exactly one instance (an "exception"), or allow as many as
the user wants - address space and memory permitting.
The logic behind this rule is that there are often situations
where it makes clear sense to allow one of something instead of
none. However, if one decides to go further and allow N (for N
> 1), then why not N+1? And if N+1, then why not N+2, and so
on? Once above 1, there's no excuse not to allow any N; hence,
infinity.
Many hackers recall in this connection Isaac Asimov's SF novel
"The Gods Themselves" in which a character announces that the
number 2 is impossible - if you're going to believe in more than
one universe, you might as well believe in an infinite number of
them.