WhatIs

/ˌɛs kjuː ˈɛl/

/spül/

[from early IBM Simultaneous Peripheral Operation Off-Line, but this acronym is widely thought to have been contrived for effect]

vt. To send files to some device or program (a spooler) that queues them up and does something useful with them later. The spooler usually understood is the print spooler controlling output of jobs to a printer, but the term has been used in connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics devices).

See also demon.

/spüj/

1. n. Inexplicable or arcane code, or random and probably incorrect output from a computer program.

2. vi. To generate spooge (sense 1).

/spənj/

[UNIX]

n. A special case of a filter that reads its entire input before writing any output; the canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream. If your file system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) the sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing filter output would just write a new version.

See also slurp.

/splat/

n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the asterisk ('*') character (ASCII 0101010). This may derive from the squashed-bug appearance of the asterisk on many early line printers.

2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the # character (ASCII 0100011).

3. [Rochester Institute of Technology] The command key on a Mac (same as ALT, sense 2).

/S-P-L/

[abbrev, from Set Priority Level]

The way traditional UNIX kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code at high interrupt levels. Used in jargon to describe the act of tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl levels run from 1 to 7;

"Fred's at spl 6 today." would mean that he is very hard to interrupt.

"Wait till I finish this; I'll spl down then."

See also interrupts locked out.

/spin/

vi. Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and UNIX programmers.

/spi-fē/

adj. 1. Said of programs having a pretty, clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface.

"Have you seen the spiffy X version of empire yet?"

2. Said sarcastically of a program that is perceived to have little more than a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should be drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word was common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to #1.

/spel/

n. Syn. incantation.

/spi-dä-mə-tər/

n. A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every N times the software goes through its main loop. A swiftly moving pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer slows down as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched "Battlestar Galactica" TV series.