DEADBEEF /ded-beef/ N.
The Hexadecimal Word-fill Pattern
For Freshly Allocated Memory (decimal -21524111) Under A Number Of
IBM Environments, Including The RS/6000.
The hexadecimal word-fill pattern
for freshly allocated memory (decimal -21524111) under a number of
IBM environments, including the RS/6000. Some modern debugging
tools deliberately fill freed memory with this value as a way of
converting heisenbugs into Bohr bugs. As in "Your
program is DEADBEEF" (meaning gone, aborted, flushed from memory);
if you start from an odd half-word boundary, of course, you have
BEEFDEAD. See also the anecdote under fool.
magic number n.
[Unix/C; common] 1. In source code
some non-obvious constant whose value is significant to the
operation of a program and that is inserted inconspicuously in-line
(hardcoded), rather than expanded in by a symbol set by a
commented #define....
