The gon File, 4.0.0 | Page 5

and
{{hacker humor}}.
:AIDS: /aydz/ /n./ Short for A* Infected Disk Syndrome (`A*' is a
{glob} pattern that matches, but is not limited to, Apple or Amiga), this
condition is quite often the result of practicing unsafe {SEX}. See
{virus}, {worm}, {Trojan horse}, {virgin}.
:AIDX: /ayd'k*z/ /n./ Derogatory term for IBM's perverted version of
Unix, AIX, especially for the AIX 3.? used in the IBM RS/6000 series
(some hackers think it is funnier just to pronounce "AIX" as "aches").
A victim of the dreaded "hybridism" disease, this attempt to combine
the two main currents of the Unix stream ({BSD} and {USG Unix})

became a {monstrosity} to haunt system administrators' dreams. For
example, if new accounts are created while many users are logged on,
the load average jumps quickly over 20 due to silly implementation of
the user databases. For a quite similar disease, compare {HP-SUX}.
Also, compare {Macintrash}, {Nominal Semidestructor}, {Open
DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools}.
:airplane rule: /n./ "Complexity increases the possibility of failure; a
twin-engine airplane has twice as many engine problems as a
single-engine airplane." By analogy, in both software and electronics,
the rule that simplicity increases robustness. It is correspondingly
argued that the right way to build reliable systems is to put all your
eggs in one basket, after making sure that you've built a really *good*
basket. See also {KISS Principle}.
:aliasing bug: /n./ A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in
code that does dynamic allocation, esp. via `malloc(3)' or equivalent. If
several pointers address (`aliases for') a given hunk of storage, it may
happen that the storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through
one alias and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle
(and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the
allocation history of the malloc {arena}. Avoidable by use of allocation
strategies that never alias allocated core, or by use of higher-level
languages, such as {LISP}, which employ a garbage collector (see
{GC}). Also called a {stale pointer bug}. See also {precedence
lossage}, {smash the stack}, {fandango on core}, {memory leak},
{memory smash}, {overrun screw}, {spam}.
Historical note: Though this term is nowadays associated with C
programming, it was already in use in a very similar sense in the
Algol-60 and FORTRAN communities in the 1960s.
:all-elbows: /adj./ [MS-DOS] Of a TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident)
IBM PC program, such as the N pop-up calendar and calculator utilities
that circulate on {BBS} systems: unsociable. Used to describe a
program that rudely steals the resources that it needs without
considering that other TSRs may also be resident. One particularly
common form of rudeness is lock-up due to programs fighting over the
keyboard interrupt. See {rude}, also {mess-dos}.
:alpha particles: /n./ See {bit rot}.
:alt: /awlt/ 1. /n./ The alt shift key on an IBM PC or {clone} keyboard;

see {bucky bits}, sense 2 (though typical PC usage does not simply set
the 0200 bit). 2. /n./ The `clover' or `Command' key on a Macintosh;
use of this term usually reveals that the speaker hacked PCs before
coming to the Mac (see also {feature key}). Some Mac hackers,
confusingly, reserve `alt' for the Option key (and it is so labeled on
some Mac II keyboards). 3. /n.,obs/. [PDP-10; often capitalized to ALT]
Alternate name for the ASCII ESC character (ASCII 0011011), after
the keycap labeling on some older terminals; also `altmode'
(/awlt'mohd/). This character was almost never pronounced `escape' on
an ITS system, in {TECO}, or under TOPS-10 -- always alt, as in
"Type alt alt to end a TECO command" or "alt-U onto the system" (for
"log onto the [ITS] system"). This usage probably arose because alt is
more convenient to say than `escape', especially when followed by
another alt or a character (or another alt *and* a character, for that
matter). 4. The alt hierarchy on Usenet, the tree of newsgroups created
by users without a formal vote and approval procedure. There is a myth,
not entirely implausible, that alt is acronymic for "anarchists, lunatics,
and terrorists"; but in fact it is simply short for "alternative".
:alt bit: /awlt bit/ [from alternate] /adj./ See {meta bit}.
:altmode: /n./ Syn. {alt} sense 3.
:Aluminum Book: /n./ [MIT] "Common LISP: The Language", by Guy
L. Steele Jr. (Digital Press, first edition 1984, second edition 1990).
Note that due to a technical screwup some printings of the second
edition are actually of a color the author describes succinctly as "yucky
green". See also {{book titles}}.
:amoeba: /n./ Humorous term for the Commodore Amiga personal
computer.
:amp off: /vt./ [Purdue] To run in {background}. From the Unix shell
`&' operator.
:amper: /n./ Common abbreviation for the name of the ampersand (`&',
ASCII 0100110) character. See {{ASCII}} for other synonyms.
:angle brackets: /n./ Either of the characters `<' (ASCII 0111100) and
`>' (ASCII 0111110) (ASCII less-than