Related:

• handshaking n. [very common] Hardware or software activity designed to start or keep two machines or programs in synchronization as they do protocol.
  Often applied to human activity; thus, a hacker might watch two people in conversation nodding their heads to indicate that they have heard each others' points and say "Oh, they're handshaking!...
• protocol: n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting
  hackers don't care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity....
• protocol n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting
  hackers don't care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity....
• WIZARD n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware work
  omeone who can find and fix his bugs in an emergency....
• handshaking protocol, n: A process employed by hostile hardware devices to initate a terse but civil dialogue
  which, in turn, is characterized by occasional misunderstanding, sulking, and name-calling....
• glue: n. Generic term for any interface logic or protocol that connects two component blocks.
  For example, {Blue Glue} is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware designers call anything used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks `glue logic'....
• ain dance: n. 1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished.
  This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc....
• heartbeat: n. 1. The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet transceiver at the end of every packet to show that the collision-detection circuit is still connected.
  2. A periodic synchronization signal used by software or hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt....
• Helen Keller mode: n. 1. State of a hardware or software system that is deaf, dumb, and blind, i.
  e., accepting no input and generating no output, usually due to an infinite loop or some other excursion into {deep space}....