WhatIs

/di-strə-ˈbyü-shən/

n. 1. A software source tree packaged for distribution; but see kit.

2. A vague term encompassing mailing lists and USENET newsgroups (but not BBS fora); any topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients.

3. An information-space domain (usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of a USENET message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature.

/di-ˈsō-shē-ˌāt'd pres/

[play on 'Associated Press'; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"]

/di-ˈsplā hak/

n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures. Famous display hacks include munching squares, smoking clover, the BSD UNIX 'rain(6)' program, 'worms(6)' on miscellaneous UNIXes, and the X 'kaleid(1)' program.

/disk färm/

n. (also laundromat) A large room or rooms filled with disk drives (esp. washing machines).

/di-skrēt lȯ-gə-ri-t͟həm prä-bləm/

Given integers a, n and x, find some integer m such that am mod n = x, if m exists. Modular exponentiation, the am mod n part, is straightforward (and special purpose chips are available), but the inverse problem is believed to be very hard, in general. Thus it is conjectured that modular exponentiation is a one-way function.

/dis-kor'di-*n-ism/

n. The veneration of Eris, a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers. Discordianism was popularized by Robert Anton Wilson's 'Illuminatus!' trilogy as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen for Westerners -- it should on no account be taken seriously but is far more serious than most jokes.

/dər-tē pau̇(-ə)r/

n. Electrical mains voltage that is unfriendly to the delicate innards of computers. Spikes, drop-outs, average voltage significantly higher or lower than nominal, or just plain noise can all cause problems of varying subtlety and severity.

/dī-nə-ˌsȯrs mātiŋ/

n. Said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the {mainframe} industry. In its glory days of the 1960s, it was 'IBM and the Seven Dwarves': Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. RCA and GE sold out early, and it was 'IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while.

/dī-nə-ˌsȯr pen/

n. A traditional mainframe computer room complete with raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire extinguishers.

See boa.

/dī-nə-ˌsȯr/

n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special power. Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines. In a famous quote from the 1988 UNIX EXPO, Bill Joy compared the mainframe in the massive IBM display with a grazing dinosaur "with a truck outside pumping its bodily fluids through it". IBM was not amused.

Compare big iron; see also mainframe.