Jargon File

Jargon File

Home › Fortune Cookies › Jargon File

octal forty /ok'tl for'tee/ n. Hackish way of saying "I'm drawing a blank.
Octal 40 is the ASCII space character, 0100000...
off the trolley adj. Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes catatonic, but doesn't actually crash or abort.
See glitch, bug, wedged. This term is much older than co...
off-by-one error n. [common] Exceedingly common error induced in many ways, such as by starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice-versa, or by writing &l
N instead of <=...
offline adv. Not now or not here. "Let's take this discussion offline.
Specifically used on Usenet to suggest that a discussion be moved off a public newsgroup to email....
ogg /og/ v. [CMU] 1. In the multi-player space combat game Netrek, to execute kamikaze attacks against enemy ships which are carrying armies or occupying strategic positions.
Named during ...
oid suff. [from Greek suffix -oid = `in the image of'] 1.
Used as in mainstream slang English to indicate a poor imitation, a counterfeit, or some otherwise slightly bogus resemblance....
old fart n. Tribal elder. A title self-assumed with remarkable frequency by (esp.
) Usenetters who have been programming for more than about 25 yea...
Old Testament n. [C programmers] The first edition of K&
R, the sacred text describing Classic C....
on the gripping hand In the progression that starts "On the one hand.
.." and continues "On the other hand..." mainstream English may add "on the third hand....
one-banana problem n.

< previous

142

143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
227
next >