Chapter 26

[Usenet, GEnie, CI$; pl. `fora' or `forums'] Any discussion group accessible through a dial-in BBS, a mailing list, or a newsgroup (see the network). A forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit postings for all to read and discussion ensues. Contrast real-time chat via talk mode or point-to-point personal email.

Node:fossil, Next:four-color glossies, Previous:forum, Up:= F =

fossil n.

1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable only in historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so as not to break compatibility. Example: the retention of octal as default base for string escapes in C, in spite of the better match of hexadecimal to ASCII and modern byte-addressable architectures. See dusty deck. 2. More restrictively, a feature with past but no present utility. Example: the force-all-caps (LCASE) bits in the V7 and BSD Unix tty driver, designed for use with monocase terminals. (In a perversion of the usual backward-compatibility goal, this functionality has actually been expanded and renamed in some later USG Unix releases as the IUCLC and OLCUC bits.) 3. The FOSSIL (Fido/Opus/Seadog Standard Interface Level) driver specification for serial-port access to replace the brain-dead routines in the IBM PC ROMs. Fossils are used by most MS-DOS BBS software in preference to the `supported' ROM routines, which do not support interrupt-driven operation or setting speeds above 9600; the use of a semistandard FOSSIL library is preferable to the bare metal serial port programming otherwise required. Since the FOSSIL specification allows additional functionality to be hooked in, drivers that use the hook but do not provide serial-port access themselves are named with a modifier, as in `video fossil'.

Node:four-color glossies, Next:frag, Previous:fossil, Up:= F =

four-color glossies n.

1. Literature created by marketroids that allegedly contains technical specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally content-free. "Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref manuals." Often applied as an indication of superficiality even when the material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-color-glossy manuals are never useful for solving a problem. 2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain enough information to diagnose why the program doesn't produce the expected or desired output.

Node:frag, Next:fragile, Previous:four-color glossies, Up:= F =

frag n.,v.

[from Vietnam-era U.S. military slang via the games Doom and Quake] 1. To kill another player's avatar in a multiuser game. "I hold the office Quake record with 40 frags." 2. To completely ruin something. "Forget that power supply, the lightning strike fragged it. See also gib.

Node:fragile, Next:fred, Previous:frag, Up:= F =

fragile adj.

Syn brittle.

Node:fred, Next:Fred Foobar, Previous:fragile, Up:= F =

fred n.

1. The personal name most frequently used as a metasyntactic variable (see foo). Allegedly popular because it's easy for a non-touch-typist to type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. In Great Britain, `fred', `jim' and `sheila' are common metasyntactic variables because their uppercase versions were official names given to the 3 memory areas that held I/O status registers on the lovingly-remembered BBC Microcomputer! (It is reported that SHEILA was poked the most often.) Unlike J. Random Hacker or `J. Random Loser', the name `fred' has no positive or negative loading (but see Dr. Fred Mbogo). See also barney. 2. An acronym for `Flipping Ridiculous Electronic Device'; other F-verbs may be substituted for `flipping'.

Node:Fred Foobar, Next:frednet, Previous:fred, Up:= F =

Fred Foobar n.

J. Random Hacker's cousin. Any typical human being, more or less synomous with `someone' except that Fred Foobar can be backreferenced by name later on. "So Fred Foobar will enter his phone number into the database, and it'll be archived with the others. Months later, when Fred searches..." See also Bloggs Family and Dr. Fred Mbogo

Node:frednet, Next:free software, Previous:Fred Foobar, Up:= F =

frednet /fred'net/ n.

Used to refer to some random and uncommon protocol encountered on a network. "We're implementing bridging in our router to solve the frednet problem."

Node:free software, Next:freeware, Previous:frednet, Up:= F =

free software n.

As defined by Richard M. Stallman and used by the Free Software movement, this means software that gives users enough freedom to be used by the free software community. Specifically, users must be free to modify the software for their private use, and free to redistribute it either with or without modifications, either commercially or noncommercially, either gratis or charging a distribution fee. Free software has existed since the dawn of computing; Free Software as a movement began in 1984 with the GNU Project. See also open source.

Node:freeware, Next:freeze, Previous:free software, Up:= F =

freeware n.

[common] Free software, often written by enthusiasts and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin boards, Usenet, or other electronic media. At one time, `freeware' was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious disappearance and presumed death in 1984. See shareware, FRS.

Node:freeze, Next:fried, Previous:freeware, Up:= F =

freeze v.

To lock an evolving software distribution or document against changes so it can be released with some hope of stability. Carries the strong implication that the item in question will `unfreeze' at some future date. "OK, fix that bug and we'll freeze for release."

There are more specific constructions on this term. A `feature freeze', for example, locks out modifications intended to introduce new features but still allows bugfixes and completion of existing features; a `code freeze' connotes no more changes at all. At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere, one may also hear references to `code slush' -- that is, an almost-but-not-quite frozen state.

Node:fried, Next:frink, Previous:freeze, Up:= F =

fried adj.

1. [common] Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. Especially used of hardware brought down by a `power glitch' (see glitch), drop-outs, a short, or some other electrical event. (Sometimes this literally happens to electronic circuits! In particular, resistors can burn out and transformers can melt down, emitting noxious smoke -- see friode, SED and LER. However, this term is also used metaphorically.) Compare frotzed. 2. [common] Of people, exhausted. Said particularly of those who continue to work in such a state. Often used as an explanation or excuse. "Yeah, I know that fix destroyed the file system, but I was fried when I put it in." Esp. common in conjunction with `brain': "My brain is fried today, I'm very short on sleep."

Node:frink, Next:friode, Previous:fried, Up:= F =

frink /frink/ v.

The unknown ur-verb, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on the Usenet newsgroup _alt.fan.lemurs_, where it is said that the lemurs know what `frink' means, but they aren't telling. Compare gorets.

Node:friode, Next:fritterware, Previous:frink, Up:= F =

friode /fri:'ohd/ n.

[TMRC] A reversible (that is, fused or blown) diode. Compare fried; see also SED, LER.

Node:fritterware, Next:frob, Previous:friode, Up:= F =

fritterware n.

An excess of capability that serves no productive end. The canonical example is font-diddling software on the Mac (see macdink); the term describes anything that eats huge amounts of time for quite marginal gains in function but seduces people into using it anyway. See also window shopping.

Node:frob, Next:frobnicate, Previous:fritterware, Up:= F =

frob /frob/ 1. n.

[MIT; very common] The TMRC definition was "FROB = a protruding arm or trunnion"; by metaphoric extension, a `frob' is any random small thing; an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob (sense 2). See frobnitz. 2. vt. Abbreviated form of frobnicate. 3. [from the MUD world] A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level (this can be used to make wizards); also, to request wizard privileges on the `professional courtesy' grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. The command is actually `frobnicate' but is universally abbreviated to the shorter form.

Node:frobnicate, Next:frobnitz, Previous:frob, Up:= F =

frobnicate /frob'ni-kayt/ vt.

[Poss. derived from frobnitz, and usually abbreviated to frob, but `frobnicate' is recognized as the official full form.] To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state devices. Thus: "Please frob the light switch" (that is, flip it), but also "Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it". One also sees the construction `to frob a frob'. See tweak and twiddle.

Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak sometimes connote points along a continuum. `Frob' connotes aimless manipulation; `twiddle' connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for a proper setting; `tweak' connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. The variant `frobnosticate' has been recently reported.

Node:frobnitz, Next:frog, Previous:frobnicate, Up:= F =

frobnitz /frob'nits/, pl. `frobnitzem' /frob'nit-zm/ or `frobni' /frob'ni:/ n.

[TMRC] An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to `frotz', or more commonly to frob. Also used are `frobnule' (/frob'n[y]ool/) and `frobule' (/frob'yool/). Starting perhaps in 1979, `frobozz' /fr*-boz'/ (plural: `frobbotzim' /fr*-bot'zm/) has also become very popular, largely through its exposure as a name via Zork. These variants can also be applied to nonphysical objects, such as data structures.

Pete Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, adds, "Under the TMRC [railroad] layout were many storage boxes, managed (in 1958) by David R. Sawyer. Several had fanciful designations written on them, such as `Frobnitz Coil Oil'. Perhaps DRS intended Frobnitz to be a proper name, but the name was quickly taken for the thing". This was almost certainly the origin of the term.

Node:frog, Next:frogging, Previous:frobnitz, Up:= F =

frog alt. `phrog'

1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have a lot of them). 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See foo. 3. n. Of things, a crock. 4. n. Of people, somewhere in between a turkey and a toad. 5. `froggy': adj. Similar to bagbiting, but milder. "This froggy program is taking forever to run!"

Node:frogging, Next:front end, Previous:frog, Up:= F =

frogging [University of Waterloo] v.

1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. See terminak for a historical example and compare dread high-bit disease. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal or comm program on a device like an IBM PC with a special `high-half' character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway.

Node:front end, Next:frotz, Previous:frogging, Up:= F =

front end n.

1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a `back end'). 2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making replies without paying attention. "Look at the dancing elephants!" "Uh-huh." "Do you know what I just said?" "Sorry, you were talking to the front end." 3. Software that provides an interface to another program `behind' it, which may not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes.

Node:frotz, Next:frotzed, Previous:front end, Up:= F =

frotz /frots/

1. n. See frobnitz. 2. `mumble frotz': An interjection of mildest disgust.

Node:frotzed, Next:frowney, Previous:frotz, Up:= F =

frotzed /frotst/ adj.

down because of hardware problems. Compare fried. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged.

Node:frowney, Next:FRS, Previous:frotzed, Up:= F =

frowney n.

(alt. `frowney face') See emoticon.

Node:FRS, Next:fry, Previous:frowney, Up:= F =

FRS // n.,obs.

Abbreviation for "Freely Redistributable Software" which entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after years of low-level confusion over what exactly to call software written to be passed around and shared (contending terms including freeware, shareware, and `sourceware' were never universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons). The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was held in Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by the Free Software Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS abbreviation heavily in its calls for papers and other literature during 1995. The term was in steady though not common use until 1998 and the invention of open source.

Node:fry, Next:fscking, Previous:FRS, Up:= F =

fry

1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See fried, magic smoke. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to roach, toast, or hose a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare fried.

Node:fscking, Next:FSF, Previous:fry, Up:= F =

fscking /fus'-king/ or /eff'-seek-ing/ adj.

[Usenet; common] Fucking, in the expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck(1), of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a bad day). Originated on scary devil monastery and the _bofh.net_ newsgroups, but became much more widespread following the passage of CDA. Also occasionally seen in the variant "What the fsck?"

Node:FSF, Next:FTP, Previous:fscking, Up:= F =

FSF /F-S-F/ abbrev.

Common abbreviation (both spoken and written) for the name of the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit educational association formed to support the GNU project.

Node:FTP, Next:-fu, Previous:FSF, Up:= F =

FTP /F-T-P/, not /fit'ip/

1. [techspeak] n. The File Transfer Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the Internet. 2. vt. To beam a file using the File Transfer Protocol. 3. Sometimes used as a generic even for file transfers not using FTP. "Lemme get a copy of "Wuthering Heights" ftp'd from uunet."

Node:-fu, Next:FUBAR, Previous:FTP, Up:= F =

-fu

[common; generalized from `kung-fu'] Combining form denoting expert practice of a skill. "That's going to take some serious code-fu." First sighted in connection with the GIMP's remote-scripting facility, script-fu, in 1998.

Node:FUBAR, Next:fuck me harder, Previous:-fu, Up:= F =

FUBAR n.

The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the suits; see foobar, and foo for a fuller etymology.

Node:fuck me harder, Next:FUD, Previous:FUBAR, Up:= F =

fuck me harder excl.

Sometimes uttered in response to egregious misbehavior, esp. in software, and esp. of misbehaviors which seem unfairly persistent (as though designed in by the imp of the perverse). Often theatrically elaborated: "Aiighhh! Fuck me with a piledriver and 16 feet of curare-tipped wrought-iron fence and no lubricants!" The phrase is sometimes heard abbreviated `FMH' in polite company.

[This entry is an extreme example of the hackish habit of coining elaborate and evocative terms for lossage. Here we see a quite self-conscious parody of mainstream expletives that has become a running gag in part of the hacker culture; it illustrates the hackish tendency to turn any situation, even one of extreme frustration, into an intellectual game (the point being, in this case, to creatively produce a long-winded description of the most anatomically absurd mental image possible -- the short forms implicitly allude to all the ridiculous long forms ever spoken). Scatological language is actually relatively uncommon among hackers, and there was some controversy over whether this entry ought to be included at all. As it reflects a live usage recognizably peculiar to the hacker culture, we feel it is in the hackish spirit of truthfulness and opposition to all forms of censorship to record it here. --ESR & GLS]

Node:FUD, Next:FUD wars, Previous:fuck me harder, Up:= F =

FUD /fuhd/ n.

Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products." The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or software. See IBM. After 1990 the term FUD was associated increasingly frequently with Microsoft, and has become generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon.

Node:FUD wars, Next:fudge, Previous:FUD, Up:= F =

FUD wars /fuhd worz/ n.

[from FUD] Political posturing engaged in by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to standardization but actually willing to fragment the market to protect their own shares. The Unix International vs. OSF conflict about Unix standards was one outstanding example; Microsoft vs. Netscape vs. W3C about HTML standards is another.

Node:fudge, Next:fudge factor, Previous:FUD wars, Up:= F =

fudge

1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way, particularly with respect to the writing of a program. "I didn't feel like going through that pain and suffering, so I fudged it -- I'll fix it later." 2. n. The resulting code.

Node:fudge factor, Next:fuel up, Previous:fudge, Up:= F =

fudge factor n.

[common] A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result. The terms `tolerance' and slop are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than necessary because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and it is better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not having enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be tweaked in more than one direction. A good example is the `fuzz' typically allowed in floating-point calculations: two numbers being compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount; if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate, while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate. Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by programmers who don't fully understand their import. See also coefficient of X.

Node:fuel up, Next:Full Monty, Previous:fudge factor, Up:= F =

fuel up vi.

To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to hacking. "Food-p?" "Yeah, let's fuel up." "Time for a great-wall!" See also oriental food.

Node:Full Monty, Next:fum, Previous:fuel up, Up:= F =

Full Monty n.

See monty, sense 2.

Node:fum, Next:functino, Previous:Full Monty, Up:= F =

fum n.

[XEROX PARC] At PARC, often the third of the standard metasyntactic variables (after foo and bar). Competes with baz, which is more common outside PARC.

Node:functino, Next:funky, Previous:fum, Up:= F =

functino n.

[uncommon, U.K.; originally a serendipitous typo in 1994] A pointer to a function in C and C++. By association with sub-atomic particles such as the neutrino, it accurately conveys an impression of smallness (one pointer is four bytes on most systems) and speed (hackers can and do use arrays of functinos to replace a switch() statement).

Node:funky, Next:funny money, Previous:functino, Up:= F =

funky adj.

Said of something that functions, but in a slightly strange, klugey way. It does the job and would be difficult to change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone. Often used to describe interfaces. The more bugs something has that nobody has bothered to fix because workarounds are easier, the funkier it is. TECO and UUCP are funky. The Intel i860's exception handling is extraordinarily funky. Most standards acquire funkiness as they age. "The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat funky; if it bounces your mail for no reason, try resubmitting it." "This UART is pretty funky. The data ready line is active-high in interrupt mode and active-low in DMA mode."

Node:funny money, Next:furrfu, Previous:funky, Up:= F =

funny money n.

1. Notional `dollar' units of computing time and/or storage handed to students at the beginning of a computer course; also called `play money' or `purple money' (in implicit opposition to real or `green' money). In New Zealand and Germany the odd usage `paper money' has been recorded; in Germany, the particularly amusing synonym `transfer ruble' commemmorates the funny money used for trade between COMECON countries back when the Soviet Bloc still existed. When your funny money ran out, your account froze and you needed to go to a professor to get more. Fortunately, the plunging cost of timesharing cycles has made this less common. The amounts allocated were almost invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to slide by with minimum work. In extreme cases, the practice led to small-scale black markets in bootlegged computer accounts. 2. By extension, phantom money or quantity tickets of any kind used as a resource-allocation hack within a system. Antonym: `real money'.

Node:furrfu, Next:fuzzball, Previous:funny money, Up:= F =

furrfu excl.

[Usenet; written, only rarely spoken] Written-only equivalent of "Sheesh!"; it is, in fact, "sheesh" modified by rot13. Evolved in mid-1992 as a response to notably silly postings repeating urban myths on the Usenet newsgroup _alt.folklore.urban_, after some posters complained that "Sheesh!" as a response to newbies was being overused. See also FOAF.

Node:fuzzball, Next:G, Previous:furrfu, Up:= F =

fuzzball n.

[TCP/IP hackers] A DEC LSI-11 running a particular suite of homebrewed software written by Dave Mills and assorted co-conspirators, used in the early 1980s for Internet protocol testbedding and experimentation. These were used as NSFnet backbone sites in its early 56kb-line days; a few were still active on the Internet as late as mid-1993, doing odd jobs such as network time service.

Node:= G =, Next:= H =, Previous:= F =, Up:The Jargon Lexicon

= G =

G:

g-file:

gabriel:

gag:

gang bang:

garbage collect:

garply:

gas:

gaseous:

Gates's Law:

gawble:

GC:

GCOS:

GECOS:

gedanken:

geef:

geek code:

geek out:

gen:

gender mender:

General Public Virus:

generate:

Genius From Mars Technique:

gensym:

Get a life!:

Get a real computer!:

GFR:

gib:

GIFs at 11:

gig:

giga-:

GIGO:

gilley:

gillion:

ginger:

GIPS:

glark:

glass:

glass tty:

glassfet:

glitch:

glob:

glork:

glue:

gnarly:

GNU:

gnubie:

GNUMACS:

go flatline:

go root:

go-faster stripes:

GoAT:

gobble:

Godwin's Law:

Godzillagram:

golden:

golf-ball printer:

gonk:

gonkulator:

gonzo:

Good Thing:

gopher:

gopher hole:

gorets:

gorilla arm:

gorp:

GOSMACS:

Gosperism:

gotcha:

GPL:

GPV:

grault:

gray goo:

Great Renaming:

Great Runes:

Great Worm:

great-wall:

Green Book:

green bytes: