WhatIs

/brō-kən/

adj. 

1. Not working properly (of programs).
2. Behaving strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme depression.

/brȯd-ˌkast stȯrm/

n. An incorrect packet broadcast on a network that causes most hosts to respond all at once, typically with wrong answers that start the process over again.

See network meltdown.

/bri-tᵊl/

adj. Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to expected external stimuli; e.g., a file system that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle.

/briŋ eks {tə, tu̇, ˈtü} {its, əts} nēs/

v. To present a machine, operating system, piece of software, or algorithm with a load so extreme or pathological that it grinds to a halt.

"To bring a MicroVAX to its knees, try twenty users running vi -- or four running EMACS."

Compare hog.

/brē-d(e)l/

n. See feep.

/B-O-L pa-kət/

[ XEROX PARC ]

n. An Ethernet packet that contained bootstrap (see boot) code, periodically sent out from a working computer to infuse the 'breath of life' into any computer on the network that had happened to crash. The machines had hardware or firmware that would wait for such a packet after a catastrophic error.

/brāk/

1. vt. To cause to be broken (in any sense). "Your latest patch to the editor broke the paragraph commands."

2. v. (of a program) To stop temporarily, so that it may debugged. The place where it stops is a 'breakpoint'.

3. [techspeak] vi. To send an RS-232 break (125 msec of line high) over a serial comm line.

4. [UNIX] vi. To strike whatever key currently causes the tty driver to send SIGINT to the current process. Normally, break (sense 3) or delete does this.

/brand 3x/

n. Humorous catch-phrase from BartleMUDs, in which players were described carrying a list of objects, the most common of which would usually be a brand. Often used as a joke in talk mode as in "Fred the wizard is here, carrying brand ruby brand brand brand kettle broadsword flamethrower". A brand is a torch, of course; one burns up a lot of those exploring dungeons. Prob. influenced by the famous Monty Python "Spam" skit.

/branch tə fishkil/

[IBM: from the location of one of the corporation's facilities]

n. Any unexpected jump in a program that produces catastrophic or just plain weird results.

See jump off into never-never land, hyperspace.

/bray'no/

n. Syn. for thinko.