Related:

• arg /arg/ n. Abbreviation for `argument' (to a function), used so often as to have become a new word (like `piano' from `pianoforte').
  The sine function takes 1 arg, but the arc-tangent function can take either 1 or 2 args....
• parm: /parm/ n. Further-compressed form of {param}.
  This term is an IBMism, and written use is almost unknown outside IBM shop...
• param /p*-ram'/ n. [common] Shorthand for `parameter'. See also parm; compare arg, var.
• var /veir/ or /var/ n. Short for `variable'. Compare arg, param.
• parm /parm/ n. Further-compressed form of param.
  This term is an IBMism, and written use is almost unknown outside IBM shop...
• percent-S: /per-sent' es'/ [From the code in C's `printf(3)' library function used to insert an arbitrary string argument] n.
  An unspecified person or object. "I was just talking to some percent-s in administration....
• bum: 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity.
  I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code....
• 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....
• orphaned i-node: /or'f*nd i:'nohd/ [UNIX] n. 1. [techspeak] A file that retains storage but no longer appears in the directories of a filesystem.
  2. By extension, a pejorative for any person no longer serving a useful function within some organization, esp....