Jargon File

Jargon File

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big iron n. [common] Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.
Big Red Switch n. [IBM] The power switch on a computer, esp.
he `Emergency Pull' switch on an IBM mainframe or the power switch on an IBM PC where it really is large and red....
Big Room n.
big win n. 1. [common] Major success. 2. [MIT] Serendipity.
big-endian adj. [common; From Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" via the famous paper "On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace" by Danny Cohen, USC/ISI IEN 137, dated April 1, 1980] 1.
Describes a com...
bignum /big'nuhm/ n. [common; orig. from MIT MacLISP] 1.
[techspeak] A multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers....
bigot n. [common] A person who is religiously attached to a particular computer, language, operating system, editor, or other tool (see religious issues).
Usually found with a specifier; ...
bit n. [from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT'] 1.
[techspeak] The unit of informatio...
bit bang n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output bit, in software, at the appropriate times.
The technique is a simple loop with ei...
bit bashing n. (alt.

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