WhatIs

/dev nəl/

A device file, present in Unix and Unix-like operating systems, that discards all data written to it and yields no input.

It's possible to suppress the compiler's warnings by redirecting standard error to /dev/null.

/desk chek/

n.,v. To grovel over hardcopy of source code, mentally simulating the control flow; a method of catching bugs. No longer common practice in this age of on-screen editing, fast compiles, and sophisticated debuggers -- though some maintain stoutly that it ought to be.

Compare eyeball search, vdiff, vgrep.

/di-ˈzərvs tə lüz/

adj. Said of someone who willfully does the Wrong Thing; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be marginal. What is meant is that one deserves the consequences of one's losing actions.

"Boy, anyone who tries to use mess-dos deserves to lose!"

(ITS fans used to say this of UNIX; many still do.)

/dā-tə in-krip-shən stan-dərd/ or /D-E-S/

the Data Encryption Standard, proposed in 1977 by the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), with assistance from the National Security Agency. Based on the "Lucifer" cipher developed by Horst Feistel at IBM, DES is a secret key cryptosystem that cycles 64-bit blocks of data through multiple permutations with a 56-bit key controlling the routing. "Diffusion" and "confusion" are combined to form a cipher that has not yet been cryptanalyzed (see "DES, Security of").

/de-pri-ˌkāted/

adj. Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent and in the process of being phased out, usually in favor of a specified replacement. Deprecated features can, unfortunately, linger on for many years.

/dee-ped'*-tayt/

[by (faulty) analogy with 'decapitate']

vt. Humorously, to cut off the feet of. When one is using some computer-aided typesetting tools, careless placement of text blocks within a page or above a rule can result in chopped-off letter descenders. Such letters are said to have been depeditated.

/dē-mən/

n. 1. [MIT] A portion of a program that is not invoked explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur.

See daemon.

The distinction is that demons are usually processes within a program, while daemons are usually programs running on an operating system. Demons are particularly common in AI programs.

/de-(ˌ)mō mōd/

[Sun] n. 1. The state of being heads down in order to finish code in time for a demo, usually due yesterday.

/de-(ˌ)mō/

[short for 'demonstration']

1. v. To demonstrate a product or prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to manifest than any number of test runs, especially when important people are watching.

2. n. The act of demoing.

/de-mē-ˌgäd/

n. A hacker with years of experience, a national reputation, and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker community and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of UNIX and C) and Richard M. Stallman (inventor of EMACS).