Books: The New Hacker\'s Dictionary version 4.2.2
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Various editors >> The New Hacker\'s Dictionary version 4.2.2
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* [9085]N:
* [9086]nadger:
* [9087]nagware:
* [9088]nailed to the wall:
* [9089]nailing jelly:
* [9090]naive:
* [9091]naive user:
* [9092]NAK:
* [9093]NANA:
* [9094]nano:
* [9095]nano-:
* [9096]nanoacre:
* [9097]nanobot:
* [9098]nanocomputer:
* [9099]nanofortnight:
* [9100]nanotechnology:
* [9101]nasal demons:
* [9102]nastygram:
* [9103]Nathan Hale:
* [9104]nature:
* [9105]neat hack:
* [9106]neats vs. scruffies:
* [9107]neep-neep:
* [9108]neophilia:
* [9109]nerd:
* [9110]nerd knob:
* [9111]net.-:
* [9112]net.god:
* [9113]net.personality:
* [9114]net.police:
* [9115]NetBOLLIX:
* [9116]netburp:
* [9117]netdead:
* [9118]nethack:
* [9119]netiquette:
* [9120]netlag:
* [9121]netnews:
* [9122]netrock:
* [9123]Netscrape:
* [9124]netsplit:
* [9125]netter:
* [9126]network address:
* [9127]network meltdown:
* [9128]New Jersey:
* [9129]New Testament:
* [9130]newbie:
* [9131]newgroup wars:
* [9132]newline:
* [9133]NeWS:
* [9134]newsfroup:
* [9135]newsgroup:
* [9136]nick:
* [9137]nickle:
* [9138]night mode:
* [9139]Nightmare File System:
* [9140]NIL:
* [9141]Ninety-Ninety Rule:
* [9142]nipple mouse:
* [9143]NMI:
* [9144]no-op:
* [9145]noddy:
* [9146]node:
* [9147]Nominal Semidestructor:
* [9148]non-optimal solution:
* [9149]nonlinear:
* [9150]nontrivial:
* [9151]not ready for prime time:
* [9152]notwork:
* [9153]NP-:
* [9154]nroff:
* [9155]NSA line eater:
* [9156]NSP:
* [9157]nude:
* [9158]nugry:
* [9159]nuke:
* [9160]number-crunching:
* [9161]numbers:
* [9162]NUXI problem:
* [9163]nybble:
* [9164]nyetwork:
_________________________________________________________________
Node:N, Next:[9165]nadger, Previous:[9166]mutter, Up:[9167]= N =
N /N/ quant.
1. A large and indeterminate number of objects: "There were N bugs in
that crock!" Also used in its original sense of a variable name: "This
crock has N bugs, as N goes to infinity." (The true number of bugs is
always at least N + 1; see [9168]Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic
Entomology.) 2. A variable whose value is inherited from the current
context. For example, when a meal is being ordered at a restaurant, N
may be understood to mean however many people there are at the table.
From the remark "We'd like to order N wonton soups and a family dinner
for N - 1" you can deduce that one person at the table wants to eat
only soup, even though you don't know how many people there are (see
[9169]great-wall). 3. `Nth': adj. The ordinal counterpart of N, senses
1 and 2. "Now for the Nth and last time..." In the specific context
"Nth-year grad student", N is generally assumed to be at least 4, and
is usually 5 or more (see [9170]tenured graduate student). See also
[9171]random numbers, [9172]two-to-the-N.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nadger, Next:[9173]nagware, Previous:[9174]N, Up:[9175]= N =
nadger /nad'jr/ v.
[UK, from rude slang noun `nadgers' for testicles; compare American &
British `bollixed'] Of software or hardware (not people), to twiddle
some object in a hidden manner, generally so that it conforms better
to some format. For instance, string printing routines on 8-bit
processors often take the string text from the instruction stream,
thus a print call looks like jsr print:"Hello world". The print
routine has to `nadger' the saved instruction pointer so that the
processor doesn't try to execute the text as instructions when the
subroutine returns. See [9176]adger.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nagware, Next:[9177]nailed to the wall, Previous:[9178]nadger,
Up:[9179]= N =
nagware /nag'weir/ n.
[Usenet] The variety of [9180]shareware that displays a large screen
at the beginning or end reminding you to register, typically requiring
some sort of keystroke to continue so that you can't use the software
in batch mode. Compare [9181]annoyware, [9182]crippleware.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nailed to the wall, Next:[9183]nailing jelly,
Previous:[9184]nagware, Up:[9185]= N =
nailed to the wall adj.
[like a trophy] Said of a bug finally eliminated after protracted, and
even heroic, effort.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nailing jelly, Next:[9186]naive, Previous:[9187]nailed to the
wall, Up:[9188]= N =
nailing jelly vi.
See [9189]like nailing jelly to a tree.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:naive, Next:[9190]naive user, Previous:[9191]nailing jelly,
Up:[9192]= N =
naive adj.
1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system;
one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the
right way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs
aren't `really good' in the appropriate sense). This trait is
completely unrelated to general maturity or competence, or even
competence at any other specific program. It is a sad commentary on
the primitive state of computing that the natural opposite of this
term is often claimed to be `experienced user' but is really more like
`cynical user'. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take advantage of
some superior but advanced technique, e.g., the [9193]bubble sort. It
may imply naivete on the part of the programmer, although there are
situations where a naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more
important to keep the code comprehensible than to go for maximum
performance. "I know the linear search is naive, but in this case the
list typically only has half a dozen items."
_________________________________________________________________
Node:naive user, Next:[9194]NAK, Previous:[9195]naive, Up:[9196]= N =
naive user n.
A [9197]luser. Tends to imply someone who is ignorant mainly owing to
inexperience. When this is applied to someone who has experience,
there is a definite implication of stupidity.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NAK, Next:[9198]NANA, Previous:[9199]naive user, Up:[9200]= N =
NAK /nak/ interj.
[from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] 1. On-line joke answer to
[9201]ACK?: "I'm not here." 2. On-line answer to a request for chat:
"I'm not available." 3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell
them you don't understand their point or that they have suddenly
stopped making sense. See [9202]ACK, sense 3. "And then, after we
recode the project in COBOL...." "Nak, Nak, Nak! I thought I heard you
say COBOL!" 4. A negative answer. "OK if I boot the server?" "NAK!"
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NANA, Next:[9203]nano, Previous:[9204]NAK, Up:[9205]= N =
NANA //
[Usenet] The newsgroups news.admin.net-abuse.*, devoted to fighting
[9206]spam and network abuse. Each individual newsgroup is often
referred to by adding a letter to NANA. For example, NANAU would refer
to news.admin.net-abuse.usenet.
When spam began to be a serious problem around 1995, and a loose
network of anti-spammers formed to combat it, spammers immediately
accused them of being the [9207]backbone cabal, or the Cabal reborn.
Though this was not true, spam-fighters ironically accepted the label
and the tag line "There is No Cabal" reappeared (later, and now
commonly, abbreviated to "TINC"). Nowadays "the Cabal" is generally
understood to refer to the NANA regulars.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nano, Next:[9208]nano-, Previous:[9209]NANA, Up:[9210]= N =
nano /nan'oh/ n.
[CMU: from `nanosecond'] A brief period of time. "Be with you in a
nano" means you really will be free shortly, i.e., implies what
mainstream people mean by "in a jiffy" (whereas the hackish use of
`jiffy' is quite different -- see [9211]jiffy).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nano-, Next:[9212]nanoacre, Previous:[9213]nano, Up:[9214]= N =
nano- pref.
[SI: the next quantifier below [9215]micro-; meaning * 10^(-9)]
Smaller than [9216]micro-, and used in the same rather loose and
connotative way. Thus, one has [9217]nanotechnology (coined by hacker
K. Eric Drexler) by analogy with `microtechnology'; and a few machine
architectures have a `nanocode' level below `microcode'. Tom Duff at
Bell Labs has also pointed out that "Pi seconds is a nanocentury". See
also [9218]quantifiers, [9219]pico-, [9220]nanoacre, [9221]nanobot,
[9222]nanocomputer, [9223]nanofortnight.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nanoacre, Next:[9224]nanobot, Previous:[9225]nano-, Up:[9226]= N
=
nanoacre /nan'oh-ay`kr/ n.
A unit (about 2 mm square) of real estate on a VLSI chip. The term
gets its giggle value from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have costs in
the same range as real acres once one figures in design and
fabrication-setup costs.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nanobot, Next:[9227]nanocomputer, Previous:[9228]nanoacre,
Up:[9229]= N =
nanobot /nan'oh-bot/ n.
A robot of microscopic proportions, presumably built by means of
[9230]nanotechnology. As yet, only used informally (and
speculatively!). Also called a `nanoagent'.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nanocomputer, Next:[9231]nanofortnight, Previous:[9232]nanobot,
Up:[9233]= N =
nanocomputer /nan'oh-k*m-pyoo'tr/ n.
A computer with molecular-sized switching elements. Designs for
mechanical nanocomputers which use single-molecule sliding rods for
their logic have been proposed. The controller for a [9234]nanobot
would be a nanocomputer.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nanofortnight, Next:[9235]nanotechnology,
Previous:[9236]nanocomputer, Up:[9237]= N =
nanofortnight n.
[Adelaide University] 1 fortnight * 10^(-9), or about 1.2 msec. This
unit was used largely by students doing undergraduate practicals. See
[9238]microfortnight, [9239]attoparsec, and [9240]micro-.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nanotechnology, Next:[9241]nasal demons,
Previous:[9242]nanofortnight, Up:[9243]= N =
nanotechnology /nan'-oh-tek-no`l*-jee/ n.
A hypothetical fabrication technology in which objects are designed
and built with the individual specification and placement of each
separate atom. The first unequivocal nanofabrication experiments took
place in 1990, for example with the deposition of individual xenon
atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain very large
computer company. Nanotechnology has been a hot topic in the hacker
subculture ever since the term was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his
book "Engines of Creation" (Anchor/Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-19973-2),
where he predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to replicating
assemblers, permitting an exponential growth of productivity and
personal wealth (there's an authorized transcription at
[9244]http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.html.). See also [9245]blue
goo, [9246]gray goo, [9247]nanobot.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nasal demons, Next:[9248]nastygram,
Previous:[9249]nanotechnology, Up:[9250]= N =
nasal demons n.
Recognized shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any unexpected
behavior of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct.
During a discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked
"When the compiler encounters [a given undefined construct] it is
legal for it to make demons fly out of your nose" (the implication is
that the compiler may choose any arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret
the code without violating the ANSI C standard). Someone else followed
up with a reference to "nasal demons", which quickly became
established.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nastygram, Next:[9251]Nathan Hale, Previous:[9252]nasal demons,
Up:[9253]= N =
nastygram /nas'tee-gram/ n.
1. A protocol packet or item of email (the latter is also called a
[9254]letterbomb) that takes advantage of misfeatures or security
holes on the target system to do untoward things. 2. Disapproving
mail, esp. from a [9255]net.god, pursuant to a violation of
[9256]netiquette or a complaint about failure to correct some mail- or
news-transmission problem. Compare [9257]shitogram, [9258]mailbomb. 3.
A status report from an unhappy, and probably picky, customer. "What'd
Corporate say in today's nastygram?" 4. [deprecated] An error reply by
mail from a [9259]daemon; in particular, a [9260]bounce message.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Nathan Hale, Next:[9261]nature, Previous:[9262]nastygram,
Up:[9263]= N =
Nathan Hale n.
An asterisk (see also [9264]splat, [9265]ASCII). Oh, you want an
etymology? Notionally, from "I regret that I have only one asterisk
for my country!", a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan
Hale just before he was hanged. Hale was a (failed) spy for the rebels
in the American War of Independence.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nature, Next:[9266]neat hack, Previous:[9267]Nathan Hale,
Up:[9268]= N =
nature n.
See [9269]has the X nature.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:neat hack, Next:[9270]neats vs. scruffies, Previous:[9271]nature,
Up:[9272]= N =
neat hack n.
[very common] 1. A clever technique. 2. A brilliant practical joke,
where neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, and
surprise value. Example: the Caltech Rose Bowl card display switch
(see [9273]Appendix A for discussion). See also [9274]hack.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:neats vs. scruffies, Next:[9275]neep-neep, Previous:[9276]neat
hack, Up:[9277]= N =
neats vs. scruffies n.
The label used to refer to one of the continuing [9278]holy wars in AI
research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is
the relationship between human reasoning and AI; `neats' tend to try
to build systems that `reason' in some way identifiably similar to the
way humans report themselves as doing, while `scruffies' profess not
to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as
long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic
is king, while scruffies favor looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by
empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous,
successful only by accident, and not productive of insights about how
intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be
hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture `common
sense' of living intelligences.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:neep-neep, Next:[9279]neophilia, Previous:[9280]neats vs.
scruffies, Up:[9281]= N =
neep-neep /neep neep/ n.
[onomatopoeic, widely spread through SF fandom but reported to have
originated at Caltech in the 1970s] One who is fascinated by
computers. Less specific than [9282]hacker, as it need not imply more
skill than is required to boot games on a PC. The derived noun
`neeping' applies specifically to the long conversations about
computers that tend to develop in the corners at most SF-convention
parties (the term `neepery' is also in wide use). Fandom has a related
proverb to the effect that "Hacking is a conversational black hole!".
_________________________________________________________________
Node:neophilia, Next:[9283]nerd, Previous:[9284]neep-neep, Up:[9285]=
N =
neophilia /nee`oh-fil'-ee-*/ n.
The trait of being excited and pleased by novelty. Common among most
hackers, SF fans, and members of several other connected leading-edge
subcultures, including the pro-technology `Whole Earth' wing of the
ecology movement, space activists, many members of Mensa, and the
Discordian/neo-pagan underground. All these groups overlap heavily and
(where evidence is available) seem to share characteristic hacker
tropisms for science fiction, [9286]music, and [9287]oriental food.
The opposite tendency is `neophobia'.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nerd, Next:[9288]nerd knob, Previous:[9289]neophilia, Up:[9290]=
N =
nerd n.
1. [mainstream slang] Pejorative applied to anyone with an
above-average IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social
rituals. 2. [jargon] Term of praise applied (in conscious ironic
reference to sense 1) to someone who knows what's really important and
interesting and doesn't care to be distracted by trivial chatter and
silly status games. Compare the two senses of [9291]computer geek.
The word itself appears to derive from the lines "And then, just to
show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo / And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep
and a Proo, / A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too!" in the Dr.
Seuss book "If I Ran the Zoo" (1950). (The spellings `nurd' and
`gnurd' also used to be current at MIT, where `nurd' is reported from
as far back as 1957.) How it developed its mainstream meaning is
unclear, but sense 1 seems to have entered mass culture in the early
1970s (there are reports that in the mid-1960s it meant roughly
"annoying misfit" without the connotation of intelligence).
An IEEE Spectrum article (4/95, page 16) once derived `nerd' in its
variant form `knurd' from the word `drunk' backwards, but this bears
all the hallmarks of a bogus folk etymology.
Hackers developed sense 2 in self-defense perhaps ten years later, and
some actually wear "Nerd Pride" buttons, only half as a joke. At MIT
one can find not only buttons but (what else?) pocket protectors
bearing the slogan and the MIT seal.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nerd knob, Next:[9292]net.-, Previous:[9293]nerd, Up:[9294]= N =
nerd knob n.
[Cisco] a command in a complex piece of software which is more likely
to be used by an extremely experienced user to tweak a setting of one
sort or another - a setting which the average user may not even know
exists. Nerd knobs tend to be toggles, turning on or off a particular,
specific, narrowly defined behavior.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:net.-, Next:[9295]net.god, Previous:[9296]nerd knob, Up:[9297]= N
=
net.- /net dot/ pref.
[Usenet] Prefix used to describe people and events related to Usenet.
From the time before the [9298]Great Renaming, when most non-local
newsgroups had names beginning `net.'. Includes [9299]net.gods,
`net.goddesses' (various charismatic net.women with circles of on-line
admirers), `net.lurkers' (see [9300]lurker), `net.person',
`net.parties' (a synonym for [9301]boink, sense 2), and many similar
constructs. See also [9302]net.police.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:net.god, Next:[9303]net.personality, Previous:[9304]net.-,
Up:[9305]= N =
net.god /net god/ n.
Accolade referring to anyone who satisfies some combination of the
following conditions: has been visible on Usenet for more than 5
years, ran one of the original backbone sites, moderated an important
newsgroup, wrote news software, or knows Gene, Mark, Rick, Mel, Henry,
Chuq, and Greg personally. See [9306]demigod. Net.goddesses such as
Rissa or the Slime Sisters have (so far) been distinguished more by
personality than by authority.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:net.personality, Next:[9307]net.police, Previous:[9308]net.god,
Up:[9309]= N =
net.personality /net per`sn-al'-*-tee/ n.
Someone who has made a name for him or herself on [9310]Usenet,
through either longevity or attention-getting posts, but doesn't meet
the other requirements of [9311]net.godhood.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:net.police, Next:[9312]NetBOLLIX, Previous:[9313]net.personality,
Up:[9314]= N =
net.police /net-p*-lees'/ n.
(var. `net.cops') Those Usenet readers who feel it is their
responsibility to pounce on and [9315]flame any posting which they
regard as offensive or in violation of their understanding of
[9316]netiquette. Generally used sarcastically or pejoratively. Also
spelled `net police'. See also [9317]net.-, [9318]code police.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NetBOLLIX, Next:[9319]netburp, Previous:[9320]net.police,
Up:[9321]= N =
NetBOLLIX n.
[from bollix: to bungle, or British `bollocks'] [9322]IBM's NetBIOS,
an extremely [9323]brain-damaged network protocol that, like
[9324]Blue Glue, is used at commercial shops that don't know any
better.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netburp, Next:[9325]netdead, Previous:[9326]NetBOLLIX, Up:[9327]=
N =
netburp n.
[IRC] When [9328]netlag gets really bad, and delays between servers
exceed a certain threshhold, the [9329]IRC network effectively becomes
partitioned for a period of time, and large numbers of people seem to
be signing off at the same time and then signing back on again when
things get better. An instance of this is called a `netburp' (or,
sometimes, [9330]netsplit).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netdead, Next:[9331]nethack, Previous:[9332]netburp, Up:[9333]= N
=
netdead n.
[IRC] The state of someone who signs off [9334]IRC, perhaps during a
[9335]netburp, and doesn't sign back on until later. In the interim,
he is "dead to the net". Compare [9336]link-dead.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nethack, Next:[9337]netiquette, Previous:[9338]netdead,
Up:[9339]= N =
nethack /net'hak/ n.
[Unix] A dungeon game similar to [9340]rogue but more elaborate,
distributed in C source over [9341]Usenet and very popular at Unix
sites and on PC-class machines (nethack is probably the most widely
distributed of the freeware dungeon games). The earliest versions,
written by Jay Fenlason and later considerably enhanced by Andries
Brouwer, were simply called `hack'. The name changed when maintenance
was taken over by a group of hackers originally organized by Mike
Stephenson. There is now an official site one at
[9342]http://www.nethack.org/. See also [9343]moria, [9344]rogue,
[9345]Angband.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netiquette, Next:[9346]netlag, Previous:[9347]nethack, Up:[9348]=
N =
netiquette /net'ee-ket/ or /net'i-ket/ n.
[portmanteau, network + etiquette] The conventions of politeness
recognized on [9349]Usenet, such as avoidance of cross-posting to
inappropriate groups and refraining from commercial pluggery outside
the biz groups.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netlag, Next:[9350]netnews, Previous:[9351]netiquette, Up:[9352]=
N =
netlag n.
[IRC, MUD] A condition that occurs when the delays in the [9353]IRC
network or on a [9354]MUD become severe enough that servers briefly
lose and then reestablish contact, causing messages to be delivered in
bursts, often with delays of up to a minute. (Note that this term has
nothing to do with mainstream "jet lag", a condition which hackers
tend not to be much bothered by.) Often shortened to just `lag'.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netnews, Next:[9355]netrock, Previous:[9356]netlag, Up:[9357]= N
=
netnews /net'n[y]ooz/ n.
1. The software that makes [9358]Usenet run. 2. The content of Usenet.
"I read netnews right after my mail most mornings."
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netrock, Next:[9359]Netscrape, Previous:[9360]netnews, Up:[9361]=
N =
netrock /net'rok/ n.
[IBM] A [9362]flame; used esp. on VNET, IBM's internal corporate
network.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Netscrape, Next:[9363]netsplit, Previous:[9364]netrock,
Up:[9365]= N =
Netscrape n.
[sometimes elaborated to `Netscrape Fornicator', also `Nutscrape']
Standard name-of-insult for Netscape Navigator/Communicator,
Netscape's overweight Web browser. Compare [9366]Internet Exploiter.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netsplit, Next:[9367]netter, Previous:[9368]Netscrape, Up:[9369]=
N =
netsplit n.
Syn. [9370]netburp.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:netter, Next:[9371]network address, Previous:[9372]netsplit,
Up:[9373]= N =
netter n.
1. Loosely, anyone with a [9374]network address. 2. More specifically,
a [9375]Usenet regular. Most often found in the plural. "If you post
that in a technical group, you're going to be flamed by angry netters
for the rest of time!"
_________________________________________________________________
Node:network address, Next:[9376]network meltdown,
Previous:[9377]netter, Up:[9378]= N =
network address n.
(also `net address') As used by hackers, means an address on `the'
network (see [9379]the network; this used to include [9380]bang path
addresses but now almost always implies an [9381]Internet address).
Net addresses are often used in email text as a more concise
substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to know each
other quite well by network names without ever learning each others'
`legal' monikers. Indeed, display of a network address (e.g on
business cards) used to function as an important hacker identification
signal, like lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among
Grateful Dead fans. In the day of pervasive Internet this is less
true, but you can still be fairly sure that anyone with a network
address handwritten on his or her convention badge is a hacker.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:network meltdown, Next:[9382]New Jersey, Previous:[9383]network
address, Up:[9384]= N =
network meltdown n.
A state of complete network overload; the network equivalent of
[9385]thrashing. This may be induced by a [9386]Chernobyl packet. See
also [9387]broadcast storm, [9388]kamikaze packet.
Network meltdown is often a result of network designs that are
optimized for a steady state of moderate load and don't cope well with
the very jagged, bursty usage patterns of the real world. One amusing
instance of this is triggered by the popular and very bloody
shoot-'em-up game Doom on the PC. When used in multiplayer mode over a
network, the game uses broadcast packets to inform other machines when
bullets are fired. This causes problems with weapons like the chain
gun which fire rapidly -- it can blast the network into a meltdown
state just as easily as it shreds opposing monsters.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:New Jersey, Next:[9389]New Testament, Previous:[9390]network
meltdown, Up:[9391]= N =
New Jersey adj.
[primarily Stanford/Silicon Valley] Brain-damaged or of poor design.
This refers to the allegedly wretched quality of such software as C,
C++, and Unix (which originated at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New
Jersey). "This compiler bites the bag, but what can you expect from a
compiler designed in New Jersey?" Compare [9392]Berkeley Quality
Software. See also [9393]Unix conspiracy.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:New Testament, Next:[9394]newbie, Previous:[9395]New Jersey,
Up:[9396]= N =
New Testament n.
[C programmers] The second edition of K&R's "The C Programming
Language" (Prentice-Hall, 1988; ISBN 0-13-110362-8), describing ANSI
Standard C. See [9397]K&R; this version is also called `K&R2'.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:newbie, Next:[9398]newgroup wars, Previous:[9399]New Testament,
Up:[9400]= N =
newbie /n[y]oo'bee/ n.
[verry common; orig. from British public-school and military slang
variant of `new boy'] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced in the
[9401]newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the combination
"clueless newbie" is especially common). Criteria for being considered
a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup
while remaining a respected regular in another. The label `newbie' is
sometimes applied as a serious insult to a person who has been around
Usenet for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having
a clue. See [9402]B1FF; see also [9403]gnubie.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:newgroup wars, Next:[9404]newline, Previous:[9405]newbie,
Up:[9406]= N =
newgroup wars /n[y]oo'groop worz/ n.
[Usenet] The salvos of dueling newgroup and rmgroup messages sometimes
exchanged by persons on opposite sides of a dispute over whether a
[9407]newsgroup should be created net-wide, or (even more frequently)
whether an obsolete one should be removed. These usually settle out
within a week or two as it becomes clear whether the group has a
natural constituency (usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in
the completely anarchic alt hierarchy, the names of newsgroups
themselves become a form of comment or humor; e.g., the group
alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork which originated as a birthday joke
for a Muppets fan, or any number of specialized abuse groups named
after particularly notorious [9408]flamers, e.g., alt.weemba.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:newline, Next:[9409]NeWS, Previous:[9410]newgroup wars,
Up:[9411]= N =
newline /n[y]oo'li:n/ n.
1. [techspeak, primarily Unix] The ASCII LF character (0001010), used
under [9412]Unix as a text line terminator. Though the term `newline'
appears in ASCII standards, it never caught on in the general
computing world before Unix. 2. More generally, any magic character,
character sequence, or operation (like Pascal's writeln procedure)
required to terminate a text record or separate lines. See [9413]crlf,
[9414]terpri.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NeWS, Next:[9415]newsfroup, Previous:[9416]newline, Up:[9417]= N
=
NeWS /nee'wis/, /n[y]oo'is/ or /n[y]ooz/ n.
[acronym; the `Network Window System'] The road not taken in window
systems, an elegant [9418]PostScript-based environment that would
almost certainly have won the standards war with [9419]X if it hadn't
been [9420]proprietary to Sun Microsystems. There is a lesson here
that too many software vendors haven't yet heeded. Many hackers insist
on the two-syllable pronunciations above as a way of distinguishing
NeWS from Usenet news (the [9421]netnews software).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:newsfroup, Next:[9422]newsgroup, Previous:[9423]NeWS, Up:[9424]=
N =
newsfroup // n.
[Usenet] Silly synonym for [9425]newsgroup, originally a typo but now
in regular use on Usenet's talk.bizarre, and other lunatic-fringe
groups. Compare [9426]hing, [9427]grilf, [9428]pr0n and [9429]filk.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:newsgroup, Next:[9430]nick, Previous:[9431]newsfroup, Up:[9432]=
N =
newsgroup n.
[Usenet] One of [9433]Usenet's huge collection of topic groups or
[9434]fora. Usenet groups can be `unmoderated' (anyone can post) or
`moderated' (submissions are automatically directed to a moderator,
who edits or filters and then posts the results). Some newsgroups have
parallel [9435]mailing lists for Internet people with no netnews
access, with postings to the group automatically propagated to the
list and vice versa. Some moderated groups (especially those which are
actually gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed as
`digests', with groups of postings periodically collected into a
single large posting with an index.
Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum), comp.arch
(on computer architectures), comp.unix.wizards (for Unix wizards),
rec.arts.sf.written and siblings (for science-fiction fans), and
talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and
[9436]flamage).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nick, Next:[9437]nickle, Previous:[9438]newsgroup, Up:[9439]= N =
nick n.
[IRC; very common] Short for nickname. On [9440]IRC, every user must
pick a nick, which is sometimes the same as the user's real name or
login name, but is often more fanciful. Compare [9441]handle,
[9442]screen name.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nickle, Next:[9443]night mode, Previous:[9444]nick, Up:[9445]= N
=
nickle /ni'kl/ n.
[from `nickel', common name for the U.S. 5-cent coin] A [9446]nybble +
1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the
Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but
10-bit-wide ROM. See also [9447]deckle, and [9448]nybble for names of
other bit units.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:night mode, Next:[9449]Nightmare File System,
Previous:[9450]nickle, Up:[9451]= N =
night mode n.
See [9452]phase (of people).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Nightmare File System, Next:[9453]NIL, Previous:[9454]night mode,
Up:[9455]= N =
Nightmare File System n.
Pejorative hackerism for Sun's Network File System (NFS). In any
nontrivial network of Suns where there is a lot of NFS cross-mounting,
when one Sun goes down, the others often freeze up. Some machine tries
to access the down one, and (getting no response) repeats
indefinitely. This causes it to appear dead to some messages (what is
actually happening is that it is locked up in what should have been a
brief excursion to a higher [9456]spl level). Then another machine
tries to reach either the down machine or the pseudo-down machine, and
itself becomes pseudo-down. The first machine to discover the down one
is now trying both to access the down one and to respond to the
pseudo-down one, so it is even harder to reach. This situation
snowballs very quickly, and soon the entire network of machines is
frozen -- worst of all, the user can't even abort the file access that
started the problem! Many of NFS's problems are excused by partisans
as being an inevitable result of its statelessness, which is held to
be a great feature (critics, of course, call it a great
[9457]misfeature). (ITS partisans are apt to cite this as proof of
Unix's alleged bogosity; ITS had a working NFS-like shared file system
with none of these problems in the early 1970s.) See also
[9458]broadcast storm.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NIL, Next:[9459]Ninety-Ninety Rule, Previous:[9460]Nightmare File
System, Up:[9461]= N =
NIL /nil/
No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using the `-P'
convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP
terminology for `false' (see also [9462]T), but NIL as a negative
reply was well-established among radio hams decades before the advent
of LISP. The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham
radio world was strong enough that this may have been an influence.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Ninety-Ninety Rule, Next:[9463]nipple mouse, Previous:[9464]NIL,
Up:[9465]= N =
Ninety-Ninety Rule n.
"The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the
development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other
90% of the development time." Attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs,
and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985 "Bumper-Sticker
Computer Science" column in "Communications of the ACM". It was there
called the "Rule of Credibility", a name which seems not to have
stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include the law attributed to the
early British computer scientist Douglas Hartree: "The time from now
until the completion of the project tends to become constant."
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nipple mouse, Next:[9466]NMI, Previous:[9467]Ninety-Ninety Rule,
Up:[9468]= N =
nipple mouse n.
Var. `clit mouse, clitoris' Common term for the pointing device used
on IBM ThinkPads and a few other laptop computers. The device, which
sits between the `g' and `h' keys on the keyboard, indeed resembles a
rubber nipple intended to be tweaked by a forefinger. Many hackers
consider these superior to the glide pads found on most laptops, which
are harder to control precisely.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NMI, Next:[9469]no-op, Previous:[9470]nipple mouse, Up:[9471]= N
=
NMI /N-M-I/ n.
Non-Maskable Interrupt. An IRQ 7 on the PDP-11 or 680[01234]0; the NMI
line on an 80[1234]86. In contrast with a [9472]priority interrupt
(which might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is never
ignored. Except, that is, on [9473]clone boxes, where NMI is often
ignored on the motherboard because flaky hardware can generate many
spurious ones.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:no-op, Next:[9474]noddy, Previous:[9475]NMI, Up:[9476]= N =
no-op /noh'op/ n.,v.
alt. NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine instruction that does
nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for
data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries).
2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going
on upstairs, or both. As in "He's a no-op." 3. Any operation or
sequence of operations with no effect, such as circling the block
without finding a parking space, or putting money into a vending
machine and having it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or
asking someone for help and being told to go away. "Oh, well, that was
a no-op." Hot-and-sour soup (see [9477]great-wall) that is
insufficiently either is `no-op soup'; so is wonton soup if everybody
else is having hot-and-sour.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:noddy, Next:[9478]node, Previous:[9479]no-op, Up:[9480]= N =
noddy /nod'ee/ adj.
[UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and un-useful, but
demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written by people
learning a new language or system. The archetypal noddy program is
[9481]hello world. Noddy code may be used to demonstrate a feature or
bug of a compiler. May be used of real hardware or software to imply
that it isn't worth using. "This editor's a bit noddy." 2. A program
that is more or less instant to produce. In this use, the term does
not necessarily connote uselessness, but describes a [9482]hack
sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged while
carrying on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. "I'll
just throw together a noddy [9483]awk script to dump all the first
fields." In North America this might be called a [9484]mickey mouse
program. See [9485]toy program.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:node, Next:[9486]Nominal Semidestructor, Previous:[9487]noddy,
Up:[9488]= N =
node n.
1. [Internet, UUCP] A host machine on the network. 2. [MS-DOS BBSes] A
dial-in line on a BBS. Thus an MS-DOS [9489]sysop might say that his
BBS has 4 nodes even though it has a single machine and no Internet
link, confusing an Internet hacker no end.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Nominal Semidestructor, Next:[9490]non-optimal solution,
Previous:[9491]node, Up:[9492]= N =
Nominal Semidestructor n.
Soundalike slang for `National Semiconductor', found among other
places in the Networking/2 networking sources. During the late 1970s
to mid-1980s this company marketed a series of microprocessors
including the NS16000 and NS32000 and several variants. At one point
early in the great microprocessor race, the specs on these chips made
them look like serious competition for the rising Intel 80x86 and
Motorola 680x0 series. Unfortunately, the actual parts were
notoriously flaky and never implemented the full instruction set
promised in their literature, apparently because the company couldn't
get any of the mask steppings to work as designed. They eventually
sank without trace, joining the Zilog Z8000 and a few even more
obscure also-rans in the graveyard of forgotten microprocessors.
Compare [9493]HP-SUX, [9494]AIDX, [9495]buglix, [9496]Macintrash,
[9497]Telerat, [9498]ScumOS, [9499]sun-stools, [9500]Slowlaris,
[9501]Internet Exploder.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:non-optimal solution, Next:[9502]nonlinear,
Previous:[9503]Nominal Semidestructor, Up:[9504]= N =
non-optimal solution n.
(also `sub-optimal solution') An astoundingly stupid way to do
something. This term is generally used in deadpan sarcasm, as its
impact is greatest when the person speaking looks completely serious.
Compare [9505]stunning. See also [9506]Bad Thing.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nonlinear, Next:[9507]nontrivial, Previous:[9508]non-optimal
solution, Up:[9509]= N =
nonlinear adj.
[scientific computation] 1. Behaving in an erratic and unpredictable
fashion; unstable. When used to describe the behavior of a machine or
program, it suggests that said machine or program is being forced to
run far outside of design specifications. This behavior may be induced
by unreasonable inputs, or may be triggered when a more mundane bug
sends the computation far off from its expected course. 2. When
describing the behavior of a person, suggests a tantrum or a
[9510]flame. "When you talk to Bob, don't mention the drug problem or
he'll go nonlinear for hours." In this context, `go nonlinear'
connotes `blow up out of proportion' (proportion connotes linearity).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nontrivial, Next:[9511]not ready for prime time,
Previous:[9512]nonlinear, Up:[9513]= N =
nontrivial adj.
Requiring real thought or significant computing power. Often used as
an understated way of saying that a problem is quite difficult or
impractical, or even entirely unsolvable ("Proving P=NP is
nontrivial"). The preferred emphatic form is `decidedly nontrivial'.
See [9514]trivial, [9515]uninteresting, [9516]interesting.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:not ready for prime time, Next:[9517]notwork,
Previous:[9518]nontrivial, Up:[9519]= N =
not ready for prime time adj.
Usable, but only just so; not very robust; for internal use only. Said
of a program or device. Often connotes that the thing will be made
more solid [9520]Real Soon Now. This term comes from the ensemble name
of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live", the "Not Ready for
Prime Time Players". It has extra flavor for hackers because of the
special (though now semi-obsolescent) meaning of [9521]prime time.
Compare [9522]beta.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:notwork, Next:[9523]NP-, Previous:[9524]not ready for prime time,
Up:[9525]= N =
notwork /not'werk/ n.
A network, when it is acting [9526]flaky or is [9527]down. Compare
[9528]nyetwork. Said at IBM to have originally referred to a
particular period of flakiness on IBM's VNET corporate network ca.
1988; but there are independent reports of the term from elsewhere.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NP-, Next:[9529]nroff, Previous:[9530]notwork, Up:[9531]= N =
NP- /N-P/ pref.
Extremely. Used to modify adjectives describing a level or quality of
difficulty; the connotation is often `more so than it should be' This
is generalized from the computer-science terms `NP-hard' and
`NP-complete'; NP-complete problems all seem to be very hard, but so
far no one has found a proof that they are. NP is the set of
Nondeterministic-Polynomial algorithms, those that can be completed by
a nondeterministic Turing machine in an amount of time that is a
polynomial function of the size of the input; a solution for one
NP-complete problem would solve all the others. "Coding a BitBlt
implementation to perform correctly in every case is NP-annoying."
Note, however, that strictly speaking this usage is misleading; there
are plenty of easy problems in class NP. NP-complete problems are hard
not because they are in class NP, but because they are the hardest
problems in class NP.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nroff, Next:[9532]NSA line eater, Previous:[9533]NP-, Up:[9534]=
N =
nroff /N'rof/
n. [Unix, from "new roff" (see [9535]troff)] A companion program to
the Unix typesetter [9536]troff, accepting identical input but
preparing output for terminals and line printers.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NSA line eater, Next:[9537]NSP, Previous:[9538]nroff, Up:[9539]=
N =
NSA line eater n.
The National Security Agency trawling program sometimes assumed to be
reading the net for the U.S. Government's spooks. Most hackers used to
think it was mythical but believed in acting as though existed just in
case. since the mid-1990s it has gradually become known that the NSA
actually does this, quite illegaly, through its Echelon program.
The standard countermeasure is to put loaded phrases like `KGB',
`Uzi', `nuclear materials', `Palestine', `cocaine', and
`assassination' in their [9540]sig blocks in a (probably futile)
attempt to confuse and overload the creature. The [9541]GNU version of
[9542]EMACS actually has a command that randomly inserts a bunch of
insidious anarcho-verbiage into your edited text.
As far back as the 1970s there was a mainstream variant of this myth
involving a `Trunk Line Monitor', which supposedly used speech
recognition to extract words from telephone trunks. This is much
harder than noticing keywords in email, and most of the people who
originally propagated it had no idea of then-current technology or the
storage, signal-processing, or speech recognition needs of such a
project. On the basis of mass-storage costs alone it would have been
cheaper to hire 50 high-school students and just let them listen in.
Twenty years and several orders of technological magnitude later,
however, there are clear indications that the NSA has actually
deployed such filtering (again, very much against U.S. law).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NSP, Next:[9543]nude, Previous:[9544]NSA line eater, Up:[9545]= N
=
NSP /N-S-P/ n.
Common abbreviation for `Network Service Provider', one of the big
national or regional companies that maintains a portion of the
Internet backbone and resells connectivity to [9546]ISPs. In 1996,
major NSPs include ANS, MCI, UUNET, and Sprint. An Internet
wholesaler.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nude, Next:[9547]nugry, Previous:[9548]NSP, Up:[9549]= N =
nude adj.
Said of machines delivered without an operating system (compare
[9550]bare metal). "We ordered 50 systems, but they all arrived nude,
so we had to spend a an extra weekend with the installation disks."
This usage is a recent innovation reflecting the fact that most IBM-PC
clones are now delivered with an operating system pre-installed at the
factory. Other kinds of hardware are still normally delivered without
OS, so this term is particular to PC support groups.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nugry, Next:[9551]nuke, Previous:[9552]nude, Up:[9553]= N =
nugry /n[y]oo'gree/
[Usenet, 'newbie' + '-gry'] `. n. A [9554]newbie who posts a [9555]FAQ
in the rec.puzzles newsgroup, especially if it is a variant of the
notorious and unanswerable "What, besides `angry' and `hungry', is the
third common English word that ends in -GRY?". In the newsgroup, the
canonical answer is of course `nugry' itself. Plural is `nusgry'
/n[y]oos'gree/. 2. adj. Having the qualities of a nugry.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nuke, Next:[9556]number-crunching, Previous:[9557]nugry,
Up:[9558]= N =
nuke /n[y]ook/ vt.
[common] 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given
directory or storage volume. "On Unix, rm -r /usr will nuke everything
in the usr filesystem." Never used for accidental deletion; contrast
[9559]blow away. 2. Syn. for [9560]dike, applied to smaller things
such as files, features, or code sections. Often used to express a
final verdict. "What do you want me to do with that 80-meg
[9561]wallpaper file?" "Nuke it." 3. Used of processes as well as
files; nuke is a frequent verbal alias for kill -9 on Unix. 4. On IBM
PCs, a bug that results in [9562]fandango on core can trash the
operating system, including the FAT (the in-core copy of the disk
block chaining information). This can utterly scramble attached disks,
which are then said to have been `nuked'. This term is also used of
analogous lossages on Macintoshes and other micros without memory
protection.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:number-crunching, Next:[9563]numbers, Previous:[9564]nuke,
Up:[9565]= N =
number-crunching n.
[common] Computations of a numerical nature, esp. those that make
extensive use of floating-point numbers. The only thing [9566]Fortrash
is good for. This term is in widespread informal use outside hackerdom
and even in mainstream slang, but has additional hackish connotations:
namely, that the computations are mindless and involve massive use of
[9567]brute force. This is not always [9568]evil, esp. if it involves
ray tracing or fractals or some other use that makes [9569]pretty
pictures, esp. if such pictures can be used as [9570]wallpaper. See
also [9571]crunch.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:numbers, Next:[9572]NUXI problem,
Previous:[9573]number-crunching, Up:[9574]= N =
numbers n.
[scientific computation] Output of a computation that may not be
significant results but at least indicate that the program is running.
May be used to placate management, grant sponsors, etc. `Making
numbers' means running a program because output -- any output, not
necessarily meaningful output -- is needed as a demonstration of
progress. See [9575]pretty pictures, [9576]math-out, [9577]social
science number.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:NUXI problem, Next:[9578]nybble, Previous:[9579]numbers,
Up:[9580]= N =
NUXI problem /nuk'see pro'bl*m/ n.
Refers to the problem of transferring data between machines with
differing byte-order. The string `UNIX' might look like `NUXI' on a
machine with a different `byte sex' (e.g., when transferring data from
a [9581]little-endian to a [9582]big-endian, or vice-versa). See also
[9583]middle-endian, [9584]swab, and [9585]bytesexual.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nybble, Next:[9586]nyetwork, Previous:[9587]NUXI problem,
Up:[9588]= N =
nybble /nib'l/ (alt. `nibble') n.
[from v. `nibble' by analogy with `bite' => `byte'] Four bits; one
[9589]hex digit; a half-byte. Though `byte' is now techspeak, this
useful relative is still jargon. Compare [9590]byte; see also
[9591]bit. The more mundane spelling "nibble" is also commonly used.
Apparently the `nybble' spelling is uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish,
as British orthography would suggest the pronunciation /ni:'bl/.
Following `bit', `byte' and `nybble' there have been quite a few
analogical attempts to construct unambiguous terms for bit blocks of
other sizes. All of these are strictly jargon, not techspeak, and not
very common jargon at that (most hackers would recognize them in
context but not use them spontaneously). We collect them here for
reference together with the ambiguous techspeak terms `word',
`half-word' and `double word'; some (indicated) have substantial
information separate entries.
2 bits:
[9592]crumb, [9593]quad, [9594]quarter, tayste, tydbit
4 bits:
nybble
5 bits:
[9595]nickle
10 bits:
[9596]deckle
16 bits:
playte, [9597]chawmp (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 16-bit
machine), half-word (on a 32-bit machine).
18 bits:
[9598]chawmp (on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit
machine)
32 bits:
dynner, [9599]gawble (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit
machine), longword (on a 16-bit machine).
36:
word (on a 36-bit machine)
48 bits:
[9600]gawble (under circumstances that remain obscure)
64 bits
double word (on a 32-bit machine)
The fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from
the normal hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme
ambiguity of the term `word' and its derivatives.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:nyetwork, Next:[9601]Ob-, Previous:[9602]nybble, Up:[9603]= N =
nyetwork /nyet'werk/ n.
[from Russian `nyet' = no] A network, when it is acting [9604]flaky or
is [9605]down. Compare [9606]notwork.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:= O =, Next:[9607]= P =, Previous:[9608]= N =, Up:[9609]The
Jargon Lexicon
= O =
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