Related:

• 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....
• alk mode n. A feature supported by Unix, ITS, and some other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation.
  It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails....
• DWIM /dwim/ [acronym, `Do What I Mean'] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided.
  2. n. obs. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish this feat by correcting many of the more common errors....
• Jacques: First, you must get to know your lane. Feel the slickness, feel the slippery finish.
  Caresses it, experience it. Quite smooth, isn't it?...
• patch 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature.
  A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program....
• boot v.,n. [techspeak; from `by one's bootstraps'] To load and initialize the operating system on a machine.
  This usage is no longer jargon (having passed into techspeak) but has given rise to some derivatives that are still jargon....
• 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....
• engine n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of front end.
  Today we have, especially, `print engine': the guts of a laser printer....
• engine: n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of {front end}.
  Today we have, especially, `print engine': the guts of a laser printer....