WhatIs

/bag'bi:t-*r/

n. 1. Something, such as a program or a computer, that fails to work, or works in a remarkably clumsy manner. "This text editor won't let me make a file with a line longer than 80 characters! What a bagbiter!"

2. A person who has caused you some trouble, inadvertently or otherwise, typically by failing to program the computer properly. Synonyms: loser, cretin, chomper.

/bāg ȯn t͟hə sīd/

n. An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or bloated.

Also v. phrase, "to hang a bag on the side [of]".

"C++? That's just a bag on the side of C..."

"They want me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system."

/bad thiŋ/

[ from the 1930 Sellar & Yeatman parody "1066 And All That" ]

n. Something that can't possibly result in improvement of the subject. This term is always capitalized, as in "Replacing all of the 9600-baud modems with bicycle couriers would be a Bad Thing".

Oppose Good Thing.

/B-A-D/

[IBM: acronym, "Broken As Designed"]

adj. Said of a program that is bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than because of bugginess.

See working as designed.

/bak'w*rd k*m-bat'*-bil'*-tee/

n. A property of hardware or software revisions in which previous protocols, formats, and layouts are discarded in favor of "new and improved" protocols, formats and layouts. Occurs usually when making the transition between major releases. When the change is so drastic that the old formats are not retained in the new version, it is said to be "backward combatable".

See flag day.

/ˈbæk.ʌp/

n., v.

A backup refers to the process of copying and archiving data from a primary location to a secondary storage location to protect against data loss. It can also refer to the copy of the data itself. The main purpose of a backup is to ensure that, in case of failure (such as hardware malfunction, cyber-attacks, accidental deletion, or natural disasters), the data can be restored or recovered to its original state.

/bak-ˌspās ən(d) ō-vərstrīk/

interj. Whoa! Back up. Used to suggest that someone just said or did something wrong. Common among APL programmers.

/bak-ˌ(g)rau̇nd/

n.,adj.,vt. To do a task 'in background' is to do it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and 'to background' something means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in background." Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream 'back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity).

/bak-ˌga-mən/

See bignum, moby and pseudoprime.

/bak-ˈbōn sīt/

n. A key USENET and email site; one that processes a large amount of third-party traffic, especially if it is the home site of any of the regional coordinators for the USENET maps. Notable backbone sites as of early 1991 include uunet and the mail machines at Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, DEC's Western Research Laboratories, Ohio State University, and the University of Texas.

Compare rib site, leaf site.