WhatIs

/wi-zərd bu̇k/

n. Hal Abelson and Jerry Sussman's Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Press, 1984; ISBN 0-262-01077-1, an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bibles of the LISP/scheme world.

/wi-zərd/

n.

/wi-t͟hin ep-sə-län əv/

adj. See epsilon.

/wi-t͟hin del-tə əv/

adj. See delta.

/wish list/

n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably won't get done for a long time, usually because the person responsible for the code is too busy or can't think of a clean way to do it.

"OK, I'll add automatic filename completion to the wish list for the new interface."

Compare tick-list features.

/wī(-ə)r-hed/

n. [prob. from SF slang for an electrical-brain-stimulation addict]

1. A hardware hacker, especially one who concentrates on communications hardware.
2. An expert in local-area networks. A wirehead can be a network software wizard too, but will always have the ability to deal with network hardware, down to the smallest component. Wireheads are known for their ability to lash up an Ethernet terminator from spare resistors, for example.

/wī(-ə)rd/

n. See hardwired.

/wī-nə-ˌtüd/

n. The quality of winning (as opposed to winnage, which is the result of winning).

"Guess what? They tweaked the microcode and now the LISP interpreter runs twice as fast as it used to."

"That's really great! Boy, what winnitude!"

"Yup. I'll probably get a half-hour's winnage on the next run of my program."

Perhaps curiously, the obvious antonym lossitude is rare.

/wi-nər/

1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer, or person.
   "So it turned out I could use a lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own pattern recognizer. What a win!"
2. real winner: Often sarcastic, but also used as high praise (see also the note under user).
   "He's a real winner -- never reports a bug til he can duplicate it and send in an example."

/winij/

n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when something is winning.