Jargon File

Jargon File

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hexadecimal n. Base 16. Coined in the early 1960s to replace earlier `sexadecimal', which was too racy and amusing for stuffy IBM, and later adopted by the rest of the industry.
Actually...
hexit /hek'sit/ n. A hexadecimal digit (0-9, and A-F or a-f).
Used by people who claim that there are only ten digits, dammi...
HHOK See ha ha only serious.
HHOS See ha ha only serious.
hidden flag n. [scientific computation] An extra option added to a routine without changing the calling sequence.
For example, instead of adding an explicit input variable to instruct a ...
high bit n. [from `high-order bit'] 1. The most significant bit in a byte.
2. [common] By extension, the most significant part of something other than a data byte...
high moby /hi:' mohb'ee/ n. The high half of a 512K PDP-10's physical address space
he other half was of course the low moby....
highly adv. [scientific computation] The preferred modifier for overstating an understatement.
As in: `highly nonoptimal', the worst possible way to do something...
hing // n. [IRC] Fortuitous typo for `hint', now in wide intentional use among players of initgame.
Compare newsfroup, filk....
hired gun n. A contract programmer, as opposed to a full-time staff member.
All the connotations of this term suggested by innumerable spaghetti Westerns are intentional....

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