• acronym for "on the other hand". Used mainly in computer-based conversation (instant messaging, email, text messaging, etc.)

  More words meaning: texting, SMS, email, chat acronyms (list of)

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009  (Edit definition)

adjective

• In software, describes values of a function which are not in its "natural" range of return values, but are rather signals that some kind of exception has occurred. Many C functions, for example, return a nonnegative integral value, but indicate failure with an out-of-band return value of -1.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• In personal communication, using methods other than email, such as telephones or snail-mail.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

origin

• from telecommunications and network theory.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

adjective

• When used of test input, implies that it was purposefully engineered as a worst case. The implication in both senses is that the data is spectacularly ill-conditioned or that someone had to explicitly set out to break the algorithm in order to come up with such a crazy example.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• Also said of an unlikely collection of circumstances. Often used to dismiss the case from discussion, with the implication that the consequences are acceptable, since they will happen so infrequently (if at all) that it doesn't seem worth going to the extra trouble to handle that case.

  Person A: If the network is down and comes up halfway through the execution of that command by root, the system may just crash.
  
  Person B: Yes, but that's a pathological case.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• Used of a data set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, esp. one that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using. An algorithm that can be broken by pathological inputs may still be useful if such inputs are very unlikely to occur in practice.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. Used by support people, particularly at call centers and help desks. Not used with the public. Denotes a user-induced computer error - especially stupid errors.

  Person A: Did you ever figure out why that guy couldn't print?
  
  Person B: Yeah, it was a PEBKAC error.

  by Kennon, Lincoln, NE, USA, Dec 11 2007  (Edit definition)

interjection

• Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. Used by support people, particularly at call centers and help desks. Not used with the public. Denotes a user-induced computer error - especially stupid errors.

  Person A: Did you ever figure out why that guy couldn't print?
  
  Person B: Yeah, he kept cancelling the operation before it could finish. PEBKAC

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

adjective

• Maximally bad. Opposite of "optimal."

  This is a pessimal situation.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. See also heisenbug.

  This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• Abbreviation, Pointy-Haired Boss. From the Dilbert character, the archetypal halfwitted middle-management type.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• the urinary tract.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Sep 27 2009  (Edit definition)

• the digestive system.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Sep 27 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• the internal portions of some system.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

• acronym for "private message". Used mainly in computer-based conversation (instant messaging, email, text messaging, etc.)

  More words meaning: texting, SMS, email, chat acronyms (list of)

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009  (Edit definition)

adjective

• the extreme form of the property that separates suits and marketroids from hackers. See PHB. Always applied to people, never to ideas. The plural form is often used as a noun.

  The pointy-haireds ordered me to use Windows NT, but I set up a Linux server with Samba instead.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

origin

• after the character in the Dilbert comic strip

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• A kind of shareware that borders on freeware, in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

transitive verb

• Syn. bang on.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• Pornography.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009  (Edit definition)

transitive verb

• by analogy with "append": To prefix. As with "append", the direct object is always the thing being added and not the original word (or character string, or whatever).

  If you prepend a semicolon to the line, the translation routine will pass it through unaltered.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)

noun

• geek.

  More words meaning: computer slang

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009  (Edit definition)