Chapter 58

A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected multi-tasking environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that exists on virtual-memory Unix systems. Common unixisms include: gratuitous use of fork(2); the assumption that certain undocumented but well-known features of Unix libraries such as stdio(3) are supported elsewhere; reliance on obscure side-effects of system calls (use of sleep(2) with a 0 argument to clue the scheduler that you're willing to give up your time-slice, for example); the assumption that freshly allocated memory is zeroed; and the assumption that fragmentation problems won't arise from never free()ing memory. Compare vaxocentrism; see also New Jersey.

Node:unswizzle, Next:unwind the stack, Previous:unixism, Up:= U =

unswizzle v.

See swizzle.

Node:unwind the stack, Next:unwind-protect, Previous:unswizzle, Up:= U =

unwind the stack vi.

1. [techspeak] During the execution of a procedural language, one is said to `unwind the stack' from a called procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame and any number of frames above it, popping back up to the level of the given caller. In C this is done with longjmp/setjmp, in LISP or C++ with throw/catch. See also smash the stack. 2. People can unwind the stack as well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems: "Oh heck, let's do lunch. Just a second while I unwind my stack."

Node:unwind-protect, Next:up, Previous:unwind the stack, Up:= U =

unwind-protect n.

[MIT: from the name of a LISP operator] A task you must remember to perform before you leave a place or finish a project. "I have an unwind-protect to call my advisor."

Node:up, Next:upload, Previous:unwind-protect, Up:= U =

up adj.

1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." Oppose down. 2. `bring up': vt. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up a down system." 3. `come up' vi. To become ready for production use.

Node:upload, Next:upthread, Previous:up, Up:= U =

upload /uhp'lohd/ v.

1. [techspeak] To transfer programs or data over a digital communications link from a system near you (espercially a smaller or peripheral `client' system) to one further away from you (especially a larger or central `host' system). A transfer in the other direction is, of course, called a download 2. [speculatively] To move the essential patterns and algorithms that make up one's mind from one's brain into a computer. Those who are convinced that such patterns and algorithms capture the complete essence of the self view this prospect with pleasant anticipation.

Node:upthread, Next:urchin, Previous:upload, Up:= U =

upthread adv.

Earlier in the discussion (see thread), i.e., `above'. "As Joe pointed out upthread, ..." See also followup.

Node:urchin, Next:URL, Previous:upthread, Up:= U =

urchin n.

See munchkin.

Node:URL, Next:Usenet, Previous:urchin, Up:= U =

URL /U-R-L/ or /erl/ n.

Uniform Resource Locator, an address widget that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. This entry is here primarily to record the fact that the term is commonly pronounced both /erl/, and /U-R-L/ (the latter predominates in more formal contexts).

Node:Usenet, Next:Usenet Death Penalty, Previous:URL, Up:= U =

Usenet /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ n.

[from `Users' Network'; the original spelling was USENET, but the mixed-case form is now widely preferred] A distributed bboard (bulletin board) system supported mainly by Unix machines. Originally implemented in 1979-1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University, it has swiftly grown to become international in scope and is now probably the largest decentralized information utility in existence. As of early 1996, it hosts over 10,000 newsgroups and an average of over 500 megabytes (the equivalent of several thousand paper pages) of new technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and flamage every day (and that leaves out the graphics...).

By the year the Internet hit the mainstream (1994) the original UUCP transport for Usenet was fading out of use (see UUCPNET) - almost all Usenet connections were over Internet links. A lot of newbies and journalists began to refer to "Internet newsgroups" as though Usenet was and always had been just another Internet service. This ignorance greatly annoys experienced Usenetters.

Node:Usenet Death Penalty, Next:user, Previous:Usenet, Up:= U =

Usenet Death Penalty

[Usenet] A sanction against sites that habitually spew Usenet spam. This can be either passive or active. A passive UDP refers to the dropping of all postings by a particular domain so as to inhibit propagation. An active UDP refers to third-party cancellation of all postings by the UDPed domain. A partial UDP is one which applies only to certain newsgroups or hierarchies in Usenet. Compare Internet Death Penalty, with which this term is sometimes confused.

Node:user, Next:user-friendly, Previous:Usenet Death Penalty, Up:= U =

user n.

1. Someone doing `real work' with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See real user. 2. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true that users ask questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user failed to think for two seconds or look in the documentation before bothering the maintainer.] See luser. 3. Someone who uses a program from the outside, however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just going ahead and fixing them.

The general theory behind this term is that there are two classes of people who work with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and lusers. The users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are known as `real winners'.) The term is a relative one: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by context.

Node:user-friendly, Next:user-obsequious, Previous:user, Up:= U =

user-friendly adj.

Programmer-hostile. Generally used by hackers in a critical tone, to describe systems that hold the user's hand so obsessively that they make it painful for the more experienced and knowledgeable to get any work done. See menuitis, drool-proof paper, Macintrash, user-obsequious.

Node:user-obsequious, Next:userland, Previous:user-friendly, Up:= U =

user-obsequious adj.

Emphatic form of user-friendly. Connotes a system so verbose, inflexible, and determinedly simple-minded that it is nearly unusable. "Design a system any fool can use and only a fool will want to use it." See WIMP environment, Macintrash.

Node:userland, Next:USG Unix, Previous:user-obsequious, Up:= U =

userland n.

Anywhere outside the kernel. "That code belongs in userland." This term has been in common use among Linux kernel hackers since at leat 1997, and seems to have originated in that community.

Node:USG Unix, Next:UTSL, Previous:userland, Up:= U =

USG Unix /U-S-G yoo'niks/ n.,obs.

Refers to AT&T Unix commercial versions after Version 7, especially System III and System V releases 1, 2, and 3. So called because during most of the lifespan of those versions AT&T's support crew was called the `Unix Support Group', but it is applied to version that pre- and post-dated the USG group but were of the same lineage. This term is now historical. See BSD, Unix.

Node:UTSL, Next:UUCPNET, Previous:USG Unix, Up:= U =

UTSL // n.

[Unix] On-line acronym for `Use the Source, Luke' (a pun on Obi-Wan Kenobi's "Use the Force, Luke!" in "Star Wars") -- analogous to RTFS (sense 1), but more polite. This is a common way of suggesting that someone would be better off reading the source code that supports whatever feature is causing confusion, rather than making yet another futile pass through the manuals, or broadcasting questions on Usenet that haven't attracted wizards to answer them.

Once upon a time in elder days, everyone running Unix had source. After 1978, AT&T's policy tightened up, so this objurgation was in theory appropriately directed only at associates of some outfit with a Unix source license. In practice, bootlegs of Unix source code (made precisely for reference purposes) were so ubiquitous that one could utter it at almost anyone on the network without concern.

Nowadays, free Unix clones have become widely enough distributed that anyone can read source legally. The most widely distributed is certainly Linux, with variants of the NET/2 and 4.4BSD distributions running second. Cheap commercial Unixes with source such as BSD/OS are accelerating this trend.

Node:UUCPNET, Next:V7, Previous:UTSL, Up:= U =

UUCPNET n. obs.

The store-and-forward network consisting of all the world's connected Unix machines (and others running some clone of the UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) software). Any machine reachable only via a bang path is on UUCPNET. This term has been rendered obsolescent by the spread of cheap Internet connections in the 1990s; the few remaining UUCP links are essentially slow channels to the Internet rather than an autonomous network. See network address.

Node:= V =, Next:= W =, Previous:= U =, Up:The Jargon Lexicon

= V =

V7:

vadding:

vanilla:

vanity domain:

vannevar:

vaporware:

var:

vaston:

VAX:

VAXectomy:

VAXen:

vaxherd:

vaxism:

vaxocentrism:

vdiff:

veeblefester:

velveeta:

ventilator card:

Venus flytrap:

verbage:

verbiage:

Version 7:

vgrep:

vi:

video toaster:

videotex:

virgin:

virtual:

virtual beer:

virtual Friday:

virtual reality:

virtual shredder:

virus:

visionary:

VMS:

voice:

voice-net:

voodoo programming:

VR:

Vulcan nerve pinch:

vulture capitalist:

Node:V7, Next:vadding, Previous:UUCPNET, Up:= V =

V7 /V'sev'en/ n.

See Version 7.

Node:vadding, Next:vanilla, Previous:V7, Up:= V =

vadding /vad'ing/ n.

[from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e., ADVENT), used to avoid a particular admin's continual search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A leisure-time activity of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the `secret' parts of large buildings -- basements, roofs, freight elevators, maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A few go so far as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize vadding keys. The verb is `to vad' (compare phreaking; see also hack, sense 9). This term dates from the late 1970s, before which such activity was simply called `hacking'; the older usage is still prevalent at MIT.

The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator rodeo', a.k.a. `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin' down a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of string, and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating ways (such as elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and the ever-popular drop experiments). Kids, don't try this at home! See also hobbit (sense 2).

Node:vanilla, Next:vanity domain, Previous:vadding, Up:= V =

vanilla adj.

[from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.] Ordinary flavor, standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla extract! For example, `vanilla wonton soup' means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to hardware and software, as in "Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a vanilla 11/34." Also used to orthogonalize chip nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from canonical in that the latter means `default', whereas vanilla simply means `ordinary'. For example, when hackers go on a great-wall, hot-and-sour soup is the canonical soup to get (because that is what most of them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla (wonton) soup.

Node:vanity domain, Next:vannevar, Previous:vanilla, Up:= V =

vanity domain n.

[common; from `vanity plate' as in car license plate] An Internet domain, particularly in the .com or .org top-level domains, apparently created for no reason other than boosting the creator's ego.

Node:vannevar, Next:vaporware, Previous:vanity domain, Up:= V =

vannevar /van'*-var/ n.

A bogus technological prediction or a foredoomed engineering concept, esp. one that fails by implicitly assuming that technologies develop linearly, incrementally, and in isolation from one another when in fact the learning curve tends to be highly nonlinear, revolutions are common, and competition is the rule. The prototype was Vannevar Bush's prediction of `electronic brains' the size of the Empire State Building with a Niagara-Falls-equivalent cooling system for their tubes and relays, a prediction made at a time when the semiconductor effect had already been demonstrated. Other famous vannevars have included magnetic-bubble memory, LISP machines, videotex, and a paper from the late 1970s that computed a purported ultimate limit on areal density for ICs that was in fact less than the routine densities of 5 years later.

Node:vaporware, Next:var, Previous:vannevar, Up:= V =

vaporware /vay'pr-weir/ n.

Products announced far in advance of any release (which may or may not actually take place). See also brochureware.

Node:var, Next:vaston, Previous:vaporware, Up:= V =

var /veir/ or /var/ n.

Short for `variable'. Compare arg, param.

Node:vaston, Next:VAX, Previous:var, Up:= V =

vaston n.

[Durham, UK] The unit of `load average'. A measure of how much work a computer is doing. A meter displaying this as a function of time is known as a `vastometer'. First used during a computing practical in December 1996.

Node:VAX, Next:VAXectomy, Previous:vaston, Up:= V =

VAX /vaks/ n.

1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The most successful minicomputer design in industry history, possibly excepting its immediate ancestor, the PDP-11. Between its release in 1978 and its eclipse by killer micros after about 1986, the VAX was probably the hacker's favorite machine of them all, esp. after the 1982 release of 4.2 BSD Unix (see BSD). Esp. noted for its large, assembler-programmer-friendly instruction set -- an asset that became a liability after the RISC revolution. 2. A major brand of vacuum cleaner in Britain. Cited here because its sales pitch, "Nothing sucks like a VAX!" became a sort of battle-cry of RISC partisans. It is even sometimes claimed that DEC actually entered a cross-licensing deal with the vacuum-Vax people that allowed them to market VAX computers in the U.K. in return for not challenging the vacuum cleaner trademark in the U.S.

A rival brand actually pioneered the slogan: its original form was "Nothing sucks like Electrolux". It has apparently become a classic example (used in advertising textbooks) of the perils of not knowing the local idiom. But in 1996, the press manager of Electrolux AB, while confirming that the company used this slogan in the late 1960s, also tells us that their marketing people were fully aware of the possible double entendre and intended it to gain attention.

And gain attention it did - the VAX-vacuum-cleaner people thought the slogan a sufficiently good idea to copy it. Several British hackers report that VAX's promotions used it in 1986-1987, and we have one report from a New Zealander that the infamous slogan surfaced there in TV ads for the product in 1992.

Node:VAXectomy, Next:VAXen, Previous:VAX, Up:= V =

VAXectomy /vak-sek't*-mee/ n.

[by analogy with `vasectomy'] A VAX removal. DEC's Microvaxen, especially, are much slower than newer RISC-based workstations such as the SPARC. Thus, if one knows one has a replacement coming, VAX removal can be cause for celebration.

Node:VAXen, Next:vaxherd, Previous:VAXectomy, Up:= V =

VAXen /vak'sn/ n.

[from `oxen', perhaps influenced by `vixen'] (alt. `vaxen') The plural canonically used among hackers for the DEC VAX computers. "Our installation has four PDP-10s and twenty vaxen." See boxen.

Node:vaxherd, Next:vaxism, Previous:VAXen, Up:= V =

vaxherd /vaks'herd/ n. obs.

[from `oxherd'] A VAX operator. The image is reinforced because VAXen actually did tend to come in herds, technically known as `clusters'.

Node:vaxism, Next:vaxocentrism, Previous:vaxherd, Up:= V =

vaxism /vak'sizm/ n.

A piece of code that exhibits vaxocentrism in critical areas. Compare PC-ism, unixism.

Node:vaxocentrism, Next:vdiff, Previous:vaxism, Up:= V =

vaxocentrism /vak`soh-sen'trizm/ n.

[analogy with `ethnocentrism'] A notional disease said to afflict C programmers who persist in coding according to certain assumptions that are valid (esp. under Unix) on VAXen but false elsewhere. Among these are:

The assumption that dereferencing a null pointer is safe because it is all bits 0, and location 0 is readable and 0. Problem: this may instead cause an illegal-address trap on non-VAXen, and even on VAXen under OSes other than BSD Unix. Usually this is an implicit assumption of sloppy code (forgetting to check the pointer before using it), rather than deliberate exploitation of a misfeature.

The assumption that characters are signed.

The assumption that a pointer to any one type can freely be cast into a pointer to any other type. A stronger form of this is the assumption that all pointers are the same size and format, which means you don't have to worry about getting the casts or types correct in calls. Problem: this fails on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats.

The assumption that the parameters of a routine are stored in memory, on a stack, contiguously, and in strictly ascending or descending order. Problem: this fails on many RISC architectures.

The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size, and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables (and vice-versa) and drawn back out without being truncated or mangled. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or word-oriented machines with funny pointer formats.

The assumption that a data type of any size may begin at any byte address in memory (for example, that you can freely construct and dereference a pointer to a word- or greater-sized object at an odd char address). Problem: this fails on many (esp. RISC) architectures better optimized for HLL execution speed, and can cause an illegal address fault or bus error.

The (related) assumption that there is no padding at the end of types and that in an array you can thus step right from the last byte of a previous component to the first byte of the next one. This is not only machine- but compiler-dependent.

The assumption that memory address space is globally flat and that the array reference foo[-1] is necessarily valid. Problem: this fails at 0, or other places on segment-addressed machines like Intel chips (yes, segmentation is universally considered a brain-damaged way to design machines (see moby), but that is a separate issue).

The assumption that objects can be arbitrarily large with no special considerations. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures and under non-virtual-addressing environments.

The assumption that the stack can be as large as memory. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or almost anything else without virtual addressing and a paged stack.

The assumption that bits and addressable units within an object are ordered in the same way and that this order is a constant of nature. Problem: this fails on big-endian machines.

The assumption that it is meaningful to compare pointers to different objects not located within the same array, or to objects of different types. Problem: the former fails on segmented architectures, the latter on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats.

The assumption that an int is 32 bits, or (nearly equivalently) the assumption that sizeof(int) == sizeof(long). Problem: this fails on PDP-11s, 286-based systems and even on 386 and 68000 systems under some compilers (and on 64-bit systems like the Alpha, of course).

The assumption that argv[] is writable. Problem: this fails in many embedded-systems C environments and even under a few flavors of Unix.

Note that a programmer can validly be accused of vaxocentrism even if he or she has never seen a VAX. Some of these assumptions (esp. 2-5) were valid on the PDP-11, the original C machine, and became endemic years before the VAX. The terms `vaxocentricity' and `all-the-world's-a-VAX syndrome' have been used synonymously.

Node:vdiff, Next:veeblefester, Previous:vaxocentrism, Up:= V =

vdiff /vee'dif/ v.,n.

Visual diff. The operation of finding differences between two files by eyeball search. The term `optical diff' has also been reported, and is sometimes more specifically used for the act of superimposing two nearly identical printouts on one another and holding them up to a light to spot differences. Though this method is poor for detecting omissions in the `rear' file, it can also be used with printouts of graphics, a claim few if any diff programs can make. See diff.

Node:veeblefester, Next:velveeta, Previous:vdiff, Up:= V =

veeblefester /vee'b*l-fes`tr/ n.

[from the "Born Loser" comix via Commodore; prob. originally from "Mad" Magazine's `Veeblefetzer' parodies beginning in #15, 1954] Any obnoxious person engaged in the (alleged) professions of marketing or management. Antonym of hacker. Compare suit, marketroid.

Node:velveeta, Next:ventilator card, Previous:veeblefester, Up:= V =

velveeta n.

[Usenet: by analogy with spam. The trade name Velveeta is attached in the U.S. to a particularly nasty processed-cheese spread.] Also knows as ECP; a message that is excessively cross-posted, as opposed to spam which is too frequently posted. This term is widely recognized but not commonly used; most people refer to both kinds of abuse as spam. Compare jello.

Node:ventilator card, Next:Venus flytrap, Previous:velveeta, Up:= V =

ventilator card n.

Syn. lace card.

Node:Venus flytrap, Next:verbage, Previous:ventilator card, Up:= V =

Venus flytrap n.

[after the insect-eating plant] See firewall machine.

Node:verbage, Next:verbiage, Previous:Venus flytrap, Up:= V =

verbage /ver'b*j/ n.

A deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of verbiage that assimilates it to the word `garbage'. Compare content-free. More pejorative than `verbiage'.

Node:verbiage, Next:Version 7, Previous:verbage, Up:= V =

verbiage n.

When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream `verbiage' to suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives behind its production have little to do with the ostensible subject.

Node:Version 7, Next:vgrep, Previous:verbiage, Up:= V =

Version 7 alt. V7 /vee' se'vn/ n.