WhatIs

/(h)wēl wȯrz/

[Stanford University]

A period in larval stage during which student hackers hassle each other by attempting to log each other out of the system, delete each other's files, and otherwise wreak havoc, usually at the expense of the lesser users.

/(h)wēl bit/

n. A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some restricted operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill or create jobs and user accounts. The term was invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS, and others.

/(h)wēl/

[from slang big wheel for a powerful person]

n. 

A person who has an active a wheel bit.

"We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives."

/wɒt/

History of "What": A Timeless Interrogative Pronoun

In the realm of computing, what serves as a fundamental interrogative pronoun that plays a crucial role in obtaining specific information from users or systems. The term what finds its roots in the English language as a timeless interrogative word used to inquire about objects, actions, or details. In the context of computing, what is employed as a key element in queries and prompts to prompt users for input or seek specific information from databases and systems.

/(h)wālz/

n. See like kicking dead whales down the beach.

/(h)wa-kər/

[University of Maryland: from hacker]

n. 

/wet-wer/

[prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker]

n. 1. The human nervous system, as opposed to computer hardware or software. "Wetware has 7 plus or minus 2 temporary registers."

2. Human beings (programmers, operators, administrators) attached to a computer system, as opposed to the system's hardware or software.

See liveware, meatware.

/wel-kə-nek-təd/

adj. Said of a computer installation, this means that it has reliable email links with the network and/or that it relays a large fraction of available USENET newsgroups. Well-known can be almost synonymous, but also implies that the site's name is familiar to many (due perhaps to an archive service or active USENET users).

/wel-bi-ˈhāvəd/

adj. 

1. [primarily MS-DOS]

   Said of software conforming to system interface guidelines and standards. Well-behaved software uses the operating system to do chores such as keyboard input, allocating memory and drawing graphics.

   Oppose ill-behaved.

/wē-nikz/

[ITS]

n. A derogatory term for UNIX, derived from UNIX weenie. According to one noted ex-ITSer, it is "the operating system preferred by Unix Weenies: typified by poor modularity, poor reliability, hard file deletion, no file version numbers, case sensitivity everywhere, and users who believe that these are all advantages". Some ITS fans behave as though they believe UNIX stole a future that rightfully belonged to them.

See ITS, sense 2.