noun

• A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result. The term "tolerance" is also used.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

• acronym for "for what it's worth". Used mainly in computer-based conversation (instant messaging, email, text messaging, etc.)

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009.

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

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009.

noun

• A cable connector shell with either two male or two female connectors on it, used to correct mismatched cables. Also called "gender bender", "gender blender", "sex changer."

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

noun

• As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

noun

• A hypothetical substance which attracts the index bots of Google.com. In common usage, a web page or web site with high placement in the results of a particular search on Google or frequent placement in the results of a various searches is said to have a lot of google juice.

  CrackMonkey has more google juice than KPMG.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

noun

• The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the designers of all those touch-menu systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of them making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized - the operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

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

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 11 2009.

verb

• to search.

  Grep the bulletin board for the system backup schedule, would you?

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

origin

• From a Unix utility used to scan files in search of particular content.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

noun

• A piece of freeware decorated with a message telling one how long and hard the author worked on it and intimating that one is a no-good freeloader if one does not immediately send the poor suffering martyr gobs of money.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

adjective

• A system that is sufficiently patched, kluged, and tweaked that the scars are beginning to show. Not all programs that are hacked become "hacked up"; if modifications are done with some eye to coherence and continued maintainability, the software may emerge better for the experience.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

• n. an individual breaks into computers.

  The Hackers took secret infomation from the government.

  by Charles B., Westminster, CO, USA, Jun 16 1999.

noun

• An expert or enthusiast of any kind, but implies hands-on work. One might be a culinary hacker, for example.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 14 2009.

• A person who is good at programming

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

• A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

• One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

• An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in 'a Unix hacker'.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

adjective

• Said of something that is or involves a hack.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.

transitive verb

• To hack; implies that the subject is some pre-existing hunk of code that one is evolving, as opposed to something one might hack up.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 14 2009.